Maryland plaintiff couple Carolyn H. and Stephan H. are suing Pfizer Inc. for allegedly causing the injured party to develop type-2 diabetes. Carolyn claims that in direct result of using Lipitor, she developed the permanent condition of type-2 diabetes.

Carolyn was one of millions of patients in America, who was suffering from high cholesterol and at risk for heart disease. High cholesterol can cause a number of complications for patients, including high blood pressure, cardiac complications, stroke, and other clotting disorders. Over the years, Lipitor has become the most popular treatment choice for high cholesterol, earning its title as a blockbuster drug and the praise of satisfied patients.

The plaintiff’s physician had hoped for the same result for Carolyn, and prescribed her Lipitor sometime in March 2003. The plaintiff reportedly experienced good results, choosing to stay on it for more than a decade. However at some point in 2012, the plaintiff learned that Lipitor and other statin drugs had the propensity to cause blood-sugar changes, which could lead to type-2 diabetes. Carolyn had been diagnosed with type-2 diabetes in less than a year of starting the medication, on Sept. 29, 2003; she ended her prescription in June 2012.

Carolyn had been informed of the correlation between Lipitor and type-2 diabetes through FDA warnings and televised advertisements, stating that the defendant made no effort in notifying her. At no point before or after her Lipitor prescription did Pfizer provide any warning or relevant studies of the possible type-2 diabetes risk. Carolyn is filing this Lipitor lawsuit against Pfizer for allegedly failing in its duty to protect her from the dangers of their product, stating that she never would have taken Lipitor if she had known the risk.

For being allegedly responsible for manufacturing, selling, distributing, and marketing a dangerous drug, Carolyn is suing Pfizer. The charges include negligence, false advertising, concealing information, and misrepresenting a product.

This Lipitor Lawsuit isIn re: Lipitor (Atorvastatin Calcium) Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2502, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Charleston Division.

Overview of Lipitor Diabetes Complications

Lipitor is a popular statin drug that has been on the American market for over two decades now. It was approved by the FDA in 1996 to be a cholesterol-lowering medication and to ultimately encourage patients to live a healthier lifestyle. Ideally, this would allow the patients to live longer, be more physically active, and improve their overall quality of life. Unfortunately, it was recently discovered that Lipitor and other statin drugs may cause patients to develop type-2 diabetes. Experts state that postmenopausal women are at highest risk.

Lipitor is a part of the popular drug family of statins, designed to prevent heart disease and stroke by lowering the patient’s bad cholesterol levels, as well as encouraging the production of good cholesterol. However, it has been alleged that statin drugs are causing type-2 diabetes to develop in patients, which puts them at greater risk for heart disease. As of now, experts are unsure as to what is causing this alleged side effect. Researchers believe it may have to do with the statins’ impact on insulin production. Experts theorize that statin drugs disrupt insulin production in the patient’s pancreas, as well as decrease the body’s sensitivity to insulin, resulting in a severe change in blood-sugar levels that ultimately leads to type-2 diabetes.

Despite this recent revelation, sales reports still total millions for Pfizer from Lipitor sales alone. Lipitor remains one of the top-selling drugs on the market, and was declared the best-selling drug in pharmaceutical history. However, the drug’s overwhelming popularity does not make Pfizer immune to product liability lawsuits or the criticism of the public.