GLP-1 injury lawsuits against Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly centralized in Philadelphia federal court
A federal court in Philadelphia is now handling dozens of lawsuits claiming GLP-1 drugs caused stomach and digestive injuries, a consolidation that does not decide whether those claims are true.
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has centralized 37 lawsuits alleging gastrointestinal injuries from GLP-1 medications into a single federal proceeding, MDL 3094, based in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania [1]. The court's page for the case lists five products at issue: Novo Nordisk's Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus, all semaglutide, and Eli Lilly's Trulicity and Mounjaro [1].
The panel said the actions "involve common questions of fact, and that centralization in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania will serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of this litigation" [1]. The court also noted that "[e]ach lawsuit contains substantially similar allegations about GLP-1 RAs ... and their alleged propensity to cause gastrointestinal injuries" [1].
The shared questions, as the panel described them, are whether the companies knew or should have known that their products can cause gastroparesis and other gastrointestinal injuries, whether they warned patients or prescribing physicians adequately, and whether they made false, misleading or incomplete statements about the drugs' safety [1]. Gastroparesis is a condition in which the stomach empties more slowly than normal. The court describes the medicines as prescribed "for, among other things, the treatment of type 2 diabetes" [1].
Court-approved short-form complaints in the proceeding name Eli Lilly and Company and Lilly USA, LLC as defendants [1]. Zepbound, Lilly's other tirzepatide brand, is not among the products named on the court's case page [1]. The page states that "[t]he Novo Nordisk defendants and Eli Lilly and Company deny these allegations" [1].
Judge Karen S. Marston is presiding over the MDL. She holds monthly, in-person status conferences with leadership counsel, and the public can watch those sessions remotely [1].
Why it matters for patients
An MDL is a procedural step. It groups similar lawsuits before one judge so they can move together; the court's page does not report any settlement, verdict or admission of liability in the case, and the page does not describe any change to the availability of the medicines [1].
That distinction matters because consolidation is often reported as if it settled the underlying scientific question. What the panel decided is that the claims share common facts worth handling together, not that the drugs caused any individual patient's injury [1].
People who take these medicines for type 2 diabetes or for weight management may see news about the case and want to know whether it affects their prescriptions. The court's page does not address prescribing, and it does not report any regulatory action tied to the litigation [1]. It also does not say how many of the 37 cases involve each product, or whether any of the plaintiffs used more than one of the five medicines listed [1].
The allegations center on gastrointestinal harm, including gastroparesis, and on what the companies told patients and doctors about those risks [1]. Whether the claims succeed depends on evidence presented later in the case, and none of that evidence has been tested in a trial yet [1].
What happens next
Judge Marston is holding monthly in-person status conferences, with remote viewing available to the public [1]. A Rule 702 evidentiary hearing, often called a Daubert hearing, is scheduled for September 14 through September 18, 2026, on what the court labels cross-cutting issues 2 and 3 [1]. The case page does not explain what those two issues cover [1].
The page does not list a trial date, and it does not indicate whether additional lawsuits will be added to MDL 3094 beyond the 37 already centralized [1]. Whether other GLP-1 products will be brought into the proceeding has not been reported [1].
Sources
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