Lilly named in lawsuit over woman’s stomach injuries, lost teeth after using medication
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Company has been named, along with a second drug maker, in a lawsuit filed by a woman claiming she experienced severe injuries from injectable medications developed to manage diabetes.
Lilly’s Mounjaro and Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic are both approved for Type 2 diabetes, but have been used off-label for weight loss.
The Louisiana plaintiff filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the companies for failing to warn of the risk of severe gastrointestinal events that could be caused by taking the medications.
Written in the lawsuit, attorneys for Jaclyn Bjorklund, 44, claim that she used Ozempic for more than a year until around July 2023 and then began using Mounjaro. She was prescribed each of the drugs by her doctor.
In the filing, Bjorklund’s representation from Morgan & Morgan allege that their client “sustained severe and permanent personal injuries, pain, suffering, and emotional distress, and incurred medical expenses.”
The lawsuit adds in its allegations that Bjorklund has suffered from “severe vomiting, stomach pain, gastrointestinal burning, being hospitalized for stomach issues on several occasions including visits to the emergency room, teeth falling out due to excessive vomiting, requiring additional medications to alleviate her excessive vomiting, and throwing up whole food hours after eating.”
Bjorklund’s attorneys claim that the two companies knew about certain risks of developing severe gastrointestinal issues and did not render adequate warnings.
According to reporting by CNN, vomiting and abdominal pain are both listed as possible adverse events on prescribing information for Ozempic and Mounjaro, and the lawsuit does not say whether Bjorklund was diagnosed with gastroparesis — stomach paralysis.
The lawsuit is seeking damages to cover Bjorklund’s attorney fees and court costs in addition to her past and future “pain and suffering” including health care costs and medical monitoring.
The filing does not specify a dollar amount but states that the amount would exceed $75,000.
Mounjaro has been described as a blockbuster drug, expected by industry analysts to become the dominant drug for both diabetes and weight loss due to its success in clinical trials.
In June, a rally in Lilly’s stock made it the most valuable pharmaceutical company in the world, surpassing Johnson and Johnson.