Plaintiff Peggy C. of Connecticut has added a claim against Pfizer Inc. to the multidistrict litigation now pending in a South Carolina federal court, where more than 2,000 Lipitor lawsuits have been consolidated over allegations the statin drug causes type-2 diabetes.

Peggy’s Lipitor lawsuit is part of the multidistrict litigation, or MDL, addressing the relationship between Lipitor and type-2 diabetes. Peggy alleges she took Lipitor from February 2003 to January 2012 and was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes in December 2004.

The Lipitor MDL consolidates thousands of Lipitor lawsuits against Pfizer, the maker of Lipitor, and Pfizer’s subsidiary Greenstone, which makes a generic version of Lipitor sold under the name atorvastatin calcium.

Lipitor and Diabetes

Lipitor is one of a class of drugs known as statins, used to reduce cholesterol and decrease the risk of heart attack and stroke. Other statins on the market include Crestor and Zocor.

Lipitor was developed by Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research and first approved for sale by the FDA in 1996. Subsequently, Parke-Davis’s parent company, Warner-Lambert, later entered into an agreement with Pfizer to distribute and sell the drug throughout the U.S. Pfizer later acquired Warner-Lambert and with it all rights to Lipitor.

Recent research has revealed a link between statins and development of type-2 diabetes in women at or beyond middle age. A study published in early 2012 found that women between the ages of 50 and 79 who took statins were 48 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than women who did not take statins.

Diabetes seems to have no shortage of destructive ways it can attack the human body. It can lead to heart disease, stroke, blindness, neurological disease, chronic kidney disease, and amputations, among other debilitating secondary conditions. Treatment of diabetes is lifelong and requires dietary restrictions, regular monitoring of blood glucose levels, and possibly regular medication or injections of insulin.

Lawsuits in the Lipitor MDL alleges Pfizer and Greenstone failed to conduct proper safety studies of Lipitor. Plaintiffs accuse the defendants of withholding vital information about Lipitor side effects and willfully misrepresenting the risk of Lipitor diabetes.

Lipitor lawsuits state that but for the defendants’ misrepresentations and failure to disclose, the plaintiffs would not have taken Lipitor. The plaintiffs also assert the defendants’ actions were intentional and therefore preclude the defendants from using the statute of limitations as a defense.

Peggy’s Lipitor lawsuit raises claims of negligence, misrepresentation, defects in product design, failure to warn, breach of warranty, fraud, unjust enrichment, and punitive damages.

Other Lipitor lawsuits in the same MDL allow spouses of diabetes patients to bring claims for wrongful death and loss of consortium, seeking compensation for the effects of Lipitor diabetes on their marital relationship.

Plaintiffs in this Lipitor MDL may eventually be compensated for past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost wages and earning capacity. Based on the alleged intentional nature of Pfizer and Greenstone’s actions, plaintiffs may also be awarded punitive damages and reimbursement for their costs of litigation, including attorney’s fees.

Peggy’s Lipitor lawsuit is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina under Case No. 2:15-cv-1499-RMG. It’s part of the multidistrict litigation, or MDL, titled In re: Lipitor (Atorvastatin Calcium) Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2:14-mn-02502-RMG.