By Peter Loftus 

A federal-court jury in Chicago ordered drugmaker AbbVie Inc. to pay $150 million in punitive damages to an Oregon man after finding the company liable for fraudulent misrepresentations about the safety of the testosterone-replacement therapy AndroGel, according to court records.

The case was the first to go to trial of more than 4,000 lawsuits against AbbVie claiming AndroGel harmed patients, and that the North Chicago, Ill., company failed to properly warn doctors and patients about its risks.

The Oregon man, Jesse Mitchell, had filed a lawsuit against AbbVie in 2014, claiming that his use of AndroGel for several years caused a heart attack in 2012. He accused AbbVie of failing to properly warn doctors and patients that the drug carried an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The lawsuit said AbbVie relayed positive information about AndroGel while omitting cardiac risks in its advertisements, and that AbbVie spent $80 million promoting AndroGel in the U.S. in 2012.

The jury in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois found AbbVie not strictly liable or negligent in Mr. Mitchell's heart attack, according to court records. But it found the company liable for "fraudulent misrepresentation," ending a trial that began in early July.

Mr. Mitchell's attorney, Troy Rafferty, said the jury found that AbbVie's fraudulent misrepresentation caused Mr. Mitchell's injury.

AbbVie had argued at trial that Mr. Mitchell's heart attack was caused by other risk factors not related to AndroGel.

An AbbVie spokeswoman said: "The jury found that AndroGel did not cause any damage. We expect the punitive damage award will not stand." The jury didn't award compensatory damages to Mr. Mitchell, AbbVie said.

Some studies have suggested AndroGel and similar testosterone-replacement therapies increased patients' risk of heart problems, and in 2015 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration strengthened warnings in the drugs' prescribing labels about cardiovascular risks. The FDA also said the drugs' benefits weren't established in men whose testosterone levels had fallen due to aging.

AbbVie had boosted AndroGel sales to an annual peak of more than $1.1 billion in 2012 with an aggressive marketing campaign including television commercials that urged men with low testosterone to talk to their doctors about treatment options. AbbVie and other drugmakers helped popularize the term "Low-T" to describe the condition. The drug is approved to treat low testosterone levels in males due to certain medical conditions.

AndroGel sales have declined in recent years and were $675 million in 2016.

Write to Peter Loftus at peter.loftus@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 24, 2017 18:33 ET (22:33 GMT)