Bellwether Trials for Tepezza Hearing Damage Lawsuits Set To Begin in April, June, July and September 2026

Judge presiding over all federal Tepezza lawsuits has pushed back the start of the first “bellwether” trial, involving claims that the thyroid eye disease drug caused hearing damage for users.

The U.S. District Judge presiding over all Tepezza hearing damage lawsuits, filed in federal courts nationwide, has scheduled four bellwether trials to begin next year, which are meant to help the parties see how juries are likely to respond to evidence and testimony that could be repeated in hundreds of other claims.

Tepezza (teprotumumab-trbw) is a new-generation biologic treatment that was introduced by Horizon Therapeutics in January 2020, as the first medication approved to treat thyroid eye disease or bulging eyes, which is caused by hyperthyroidism and linked to Graves’ disease, resulting in inflammation of eye muscles, eyelids, tear glands and fatty tissues behind the eye.

Although Tepezza infusions were originally intended as a niche treatment, with only a limited market, during the second year the drug was on the market in the United States, sales doubled to $1.66 billion, and critics have expressed concern that Tepezza was aggressively marketed without adequately disclosing all of the potential risks.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an updated version of the prescribing information guide in July 2023, adding Tepezza hearing damage warnings, which more than 200 product liability lawsuits claim should have been included when the drug was first introduced.

Given common questions of fact and law, a Tepezza hearing damage MDL (multidistrict litigation) was formed the same month the FDA updated the warning label, centralizing the litigation before U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin in the Northern District of Illinois for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Tepezza Hearing Damage Lawsuit Trial Dates

As part of the litigation’s management, Judge Durkin has established a Tepezza “bellwether” program, where a group of four hearing damage lawsuits are being prepared for early trial dates. Originally, the first trial was expected to begin in March 2026, but in a docket entry (PDF) issued on March 11, that first trial has now been pushed back a month.

According to the entry, Judge Durkin has scheduled the first bellwether trial to begin on April 6, 2026, followed by a second trial on June 1, a third starting on July 27 and the fourth set to start on September 21 of that year.

In another docket entry (PDF) issued the same day, the Court detailed the amended discovery schedule needed to prepare the four chosen lawsuits in time for the trials. The schedule calls for the close of fact discovery by May 9, 2025, the submission of summary judgment motions by December 5, 2025, with the final pretrial case management conference for the first bellwether trial being held in early March 2026.

The bellwether cases were chosen from a group of 12 representative claims. In February 2024, the Court identified the four Tepezza hearing damage lawsuits that will be the first to go to trial.

While the outcome of these early bellwether trials will not have any binding impact on other claims presented in the litigation, they are being closely watched by lawyers involved in the litigation, as the average Tepezza lawsuit payouts awarded by juries are likely to have a large impact on settlement negotiations between the parties.

If the parties fail to reach Tepezza hearing loss settlements or another resolution for the litigation following the bellwether trials, Judge Durkin may begin remanding individual cases to U.S. District Courts nationwide for separate trial dates in the coming years.

However, the parties have been directed to participate in Tepezza settlement talks at least once every quarter to seek a potential resolution that does not require hundreds of expensive and lengthy federal trials.