The ongoing Lipitor litigation continues to gain new individual lawsuits within the larger Lipitor multidistrict litigation (MDL) or mass tort. A recent case by an Illinois resident has joined the allegations against Pfizer over alleged Lipitor diabetes.

Lipitor is a medication designed to help lower blood cholesterol levels in order to promote heart and cardiovascular health. However, lawsuits like this latest Illinois Lipitor diabetes lawsuit have alleged that the drug can make patients more likely to develop type-2 diabetes.

Epidemiological studies have found that postmenopausal women taking the drug are more likely to develop type-2 diabetes than peers not taking the drug. Some of these studies have drawn from epidemiology data from tens of thousands of patients.

Plaintiff Fiona George filed the Lipitor diabetes lawsuit, stating that she took Lipitor between 2006 and 2012. The text of her Lipitor lawsuit states that she received a formal diagnosis of type-2 diabetes in 2008, after taking Lipitor for more than two years.

Type-2 diabetes is a lifelong condition with serious potential complications, including blindness, kidney failure, and even gangrene in the limbs and extremities. George’s Lipitor lawsuit has joined thousands of others against Lipitor maker Pfizer Inc.

The litigation over Lipitor has taken the form of a Lipitor MDL. MDL, short for multidistrict litigation, is a legal process that coordinates similar individual lawsuits, preventing duplication in the legal system. In many ways, MDLs like the Lipitor MDL function similar to class action lawsuits. The main difference is that class action lawsuits start as group lawsuits, while MDLs start out as very similar individual lawsuits which are later coordinated together.

Individual Lipitor lawsuits are similar enough to be grouped into a single Lipitor MDL. Group legal action like MDLs and class action lawsuits are designed to streamline the legal process by combining tens, hundreds, or even thousands of potential individual lawsuits into a single coordinated legal process.

Lipitor lawsuits typically seek to recoup the costs of diabetes care. Since diabetes is a life-long medical condition, these costs can be substantial. Additionally, may of the cases in the Lipitor MDL seek to recoup lost wages or lost income potential connected to their diabetes care, as well as legal fees and other costs associated with their Lipitor diabetes.

The Lipitor MDL is In Re: Lipitor (Atorvastatin Calcium) Marketing, Sales Practices and Product Liability Litigation, Case No. 2:14-mn-02502-RMG, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Charleston Division.