An Illinois resident has filed a Lipitor diabetes lawsuit after taking the drug for about 10 years. The lawsuit against Pfizer is joining existing mass legal action over Lipitor diabetes concerns.

The Lipitor lawsuit was filed by plaintiff JoAnn Gardner, 71. According to the text of her Lipitor diabetes lawsuit, she took Lipitor on and off between 2002 and 2012. In 2012, she was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes.

Lipitor is a type of drug called a statin, which is designed to lower the amount of LDL or “bad” cholesterol in the blood. High levels of LDL cholesterol in the blood can lead to heart and blood vessel disease. However, a mass legal action and medical studies allege that the drug can cause older women to develop type-2 diabetes.

The Lipitor diabetes lawsuits against Pfizer has taken the form of a multidistrict litigation (MDL), or mass tort. MDLs are groups of similar lawsuits coordinated together, designed to help streamline the legal system.

Cases in a mass tort typically hinge on similar evidence and allege that the plaintiffs have suffered similar harm at the hands of the same defendant. MDLs like the Lipitor MDL are designed to help streamline the legal system by combining tens, hundreds, or even thousands of individual lawsuits into a single coordinated legal process, similar to a class action lawsuit.

MDLs are more common in drug litigation than class action lawsuits, since injuries tend to vary. The Lipitor MDL has thousands of individual Lipitor diabetes lawsuits.

The Lipitor lawsuits in the Lipitor MDL have made similar claims. These claims allege that Pfizer was aware of, or reasonably should have been aware of, the risk of diabetes associated with Lipitor.

These Lipitor diabetes lawsuits allege that various studies have found an increased risk of diabetes associated with Lipitor, particularly in postmenopausal women. Allegedly, these studies have found that there is a substantial risk of Lipitor diabetes, even when other risk factors are considered by researchers.

The Lipitor lawsuits within the Lipitor MDL further allege that Pfizer downplayed these risks to continue selling a blockbuster drug. To support this allegation, lawsuits have cited the fact that when the FDA demanded changes to Lipitor’s labeling to mention this risk, Pfizer used wording that never actually used the word “diabetes,” instead using medical jargon about high blood glucose levels associated with the drug.

The Lipitor MDL is In re: Lipitor (Atorvastatin Calcium) Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation (No. II), MDL No. 2502, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.