A Lipitor MDL has expanded as more individuals filed complaints concerning Lipitor side effects. Pfizer’s cholesterol drug has allegedly caused thousands of individuals, especially women, to develop Lipitor type-2 diabetes side effects. Recently, a Tennessee resident’s individual Lipitor diabetes lawsuit joined the Lipitor Multidistrict Litigation (or Lipitor MDL) in late December 2014.

Plaintiff Denise O. began taking Lipitor in 2002 and continued until 2007 when she was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes. The 45-year-old woman claims that she suffered Lipitor side effects in addition to economic and health losses due to Pfizer’s negligence, according to the Lipitor diabetes lawsuit. 

In her Lipitor type-2 diabetes lawsuit, Denise’s claims against Pfizer include counts of negligence, product liability, failure to warn, design defect, breach of warranty, fraud and misrepresentation, constructive fraud, unjust enrichment, and punitive damages. In the larger Lipitor diabetes MDL, other plaintiffs have also listed loss of consortium (loss of intimacy with a spouse) and wrongful death as part of their complaints against the Lipitor manufacturer.

Denise is one of millions of people who has used Lipitor and allegedly been put at risk for Lipitor type-2 diabetes side effects.

Lipitor Type-2 Diabetes

Lipitor is a medication manufactured by Pfizer Inc. and commonly prescribed to help lower cholesterol as well as to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. It belongs to a class of drugs called statin drugs.

According to several research studies, Lipitor and other statin drugs have been known to increase the risk of developing type-2 diabetes. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has previously suggested that this risk is small, some medical experts have stated that the so-called “small” type-2 diabetes side effects may affect over 100,000 people.

The FDA required Pfizer to adapt Lipitor’s label to include potential Lipitor type-2 diabetes side effects. This change followed a study on Lipitor and other statin drugs that was published in a 2012 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study suggested that women, in particular, were 48 percent more likely to develop type-2 diabetes than women who did not take statin drugs.

Many Lipitor lawsuits have been filed since the study was published after individuals realized that their type-2 diabetes may have been a Lipitor side effect rather than a result of lifestyle or genetics. This Lipitor diabetes MDL has been rapidly expanding since February 2014, when many of Lipitor lawsuits already filed in federal court were consolidated into multidistrict litigation before one judge.

Signs of Lipitor type-2 diabetes include:

• Increased thirst
• Dry mouth
• Increased hunger (especially after eating)
• Frequent urination
• Unexplained weight loss
• Fatigue
• Blurred vision
• Slow-healing sores or frequent infections
• Areas of darkened skin
• Headaches

This Lipitor Type-2 Diabetes Lawsuit is Case No. 2:14-cv-4909 and is a part of the Lipitor Diabetes MDL In Re: Lipitor (Atorvastatin Calcium) Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2:14-mn-02502, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Charleston Division.