A major medical journal has published a paper suggesting that Lipitor and related drugs’ risks may outweigh their benefits. This could provide fuel for Lipitor diabetes lawsuits.

The new study was published in the July issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ). The study was a meta-analysis, a sort of “study of studies.” In meta-analyses, researchers comb through previous research papers and compare their results and methods. The new BMJ looked through studies going back to 1994, including data from roughly 150,000 individuals between all of the various studies reviewed in the meta-analysis.

The BMJ meta-study confirmed that statins — the drugs that include Lipitor and related drugs — could both increase the risk of a person developing type-2 diabetes and a serious muscle condition called rhabdomyolysis. The research did find that these side effects were most pronounced in patients who were already at risk of developing diabetes.

However, other studies have found different results, including a number of epidemiological studies that have found that Lipitor can increase a patient’s risk of developing diabetes, even when other risk factors are taken into account. Additionally, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made statements — and demanded label changes — to reflect the fact that the agency is satisfied with the evidence that Lipitor and related drugs increase a person’s risk of developing diabetes. The link is particularly strong in female Lipitor patients.

Pfizer, the drug’s maker, is facing a number of Lipitor diabetes lawsuits. These lawsuits have taken the form of a multidistrict litigation, or MDL. MDLs are a kind of group lawsuit in which the legal system coordinates a group of similar lawsuits together into a single MDL.

The Lipitor diabetes lawsuits facing Pfizer allege that the drug maker was aware, or reasonably should have been aware, of the alleged link between the drug and diabetes. These Lipitor lawsuits further allege that Pfizer actively downplayed the risk of diabetes. To support this allegation, Lipitor diabetes lawsuits cite the fact that when the FDA demanded Pfizer include information about the risk of diabetes in the drug’s packaging, the warning was worded with references to “increased blood glucose levels” and never actually uses the word “diabetes,” allegedly concealing this risk in medical jargon most people would not understand.

This is the second MDL over this issue. A previous attempt to create an MDL was not successful, as there were only a handful of Lipitor diabetes lawsuits at the time. By the second attempt to create an MDL, there were sufficient Lipitor lawsuits to do so.

Research has most strongly suggested that women who took Lipitor or other statins had the most pronounced increased risk of developing diabetes. As such, the bulk of Lipitor diabetes lawsuits have been filed by women, and much of the efforts of the MDL has been focused on female plaintiffs.

The Lipitor Diabetes MDL is In re: Lipitor (Atorvastatin Calcium) Marketing, Sales Practices and Product Liabiltiy Litigation (No. II), MDL No. 2505, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.