A California woman filed a Lipitor diabetes lawsuit against Pfizer, joining the ever-growing multidistrict litigation.

Plaintiff Ruthie A. says she took Lipitor from 2005 to 2013. In 2007 she was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes, which she now alleges was caused by Lipitor.

Lipitor is in a class of drugs called statins, used to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of developing heart disease. After almost 20 years on the market as a cholesterol-fighting drug, it is now one of the best-selling drugs in the world.

Before generic versions became available, annual sales of Lipitor peaked at $9 billion, and sales remain strong even after the introduction of generics. Total sales of the drug have reached at least $131 billion.

Ruthie’s Lipitor lawsuit is part of the multidistrict litigation over Lipitor diabetes now going on in a federal court in South Carolina. This multidistrict litigation, or MDL, is a consolidation of many separate Lipitor lawsuits into a single action in a single court.

The federal court system sometimes combines similar claims this way to make pretrial procedures more efficient and consistent.

The Lipitor MDL now contains over 2,400 separate Lipitor lawsuits, and that number is expected to keep increasing. Generally, the plaintiffs in this MDL are women who developed type-2 diabetes after taking Lipitor.

Other plaintiffs include the spouses and other relatives of these women who are bringing their own claims for wrongful death or loss of consortium.

These Lipitor diabetes lawsuits allege that manufacturers Pfizer and Greenstone LLC, a Pfizer subsidiary that makes a generic version of Lipitor sold under the name atorvastatin, failed to properly warn about the risk of Lipitor diabetes.

They say the defendants knew that Lipitor increased the chances of developing type-2 diabetes and that it did so more in women than in men, yet took steps to mislead patients about those risks.

The plaintiffs cite a 2011 request by the FDA that the defendants update the labeling for Lipitor to warn patients about its impact on their blood sugar.

The defendants complied by adding a note to the labeling that notifies patients that increases in blood sugar have been reported in association with Lipitor and other statins. However, plaintiffs say the label still does not adequately warn patients of the risk of Lipitor diabetes.

With type-2 diabetes comes the risk of developing a host of debilitating secondary conditions like stroke, kidney disease, heart disease, blindness, or nerve damage. Plaintiffs argue that the increased risk of cardiovascular disease associated with diabetes means Lipitor may end up causing one of the diseases it was intended to prevent.

The Lipitor MDL is in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, MDL No. 2502. The first few cases to go to trial are scheduled to do so in November. The Lipitor Lawsuit is Case No. 2:15-CV-04026.