Plaintiff Pricilla Hart has filed a lawsuit against Pfizer Inc., alleging that their cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor caused her to develop type-2 diabetes.

Lipitor belongs to a family of drugs called HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors or statins. Drugs of this class lower the amount of “bad” or LDL cholesterol in the blood. While diet and exercise can improve blood cholesterol, the body does produce some LDL cholesterol on its own, independent of diet. Lipitor addresses this by interfering with the body’s ability to produce LDL cholesterol. Lower levels of LDL cholesterol translate to a lower risk of heart disease and other health hazards. But Lipitor and related drugs have been linked to an increased risk of developing type-2 diabetes, particularly in postmenopausal women.

According to the Lipitor lawsuit, Hart was prescribed Lipitor in November 1998 and continued to use it through September 2009, to help control her LDL cholesterol levels. In September 2009, Hart’s physicians diagnosed her with type-2 diabetes. Her Lipitor lawsuit holds that this side effect was caused by Lipitor, and that Pfizer was aware of this potential risk.

To support the allegations that Lipitor can cause diabetes and Pfizer reasonably should have known about the risk, the Lipitor lawsuit states that Pfizer had a duty to thoroughly test the drug, and continue to monitor post-market reports for signs of serious complications.

The lawsuit alleges that Pfizer was not only aware of the risk of developing type-2 diabetes associated with Lipitor, but actively concealed it. To support this allegation, the Lipitor lawsuit cites issues with the drug’s labeling.

Until 2012, the drug information that Pfizer included with Lipitor reportedly made no reference to diabetes. However, in August 2011, the Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration demanded changes to Lipitor’s labeling to reflect growing evidence that the drug could case diabetes.

In February 2012, Pfizer complied with the letter of the law, adding the passage “…increases in HbA1c and fasting serium glucose levels have been reported with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, including Lipitor.” The new labeling does not make any mention of diabetes and uses medical jargon most patients would not understand. The Lipitor lawsuit holds that this wording is part of Pfizer’s continuing pattern of obscuring the link between the drug and diabetes.

The Lipitor diabetes lawsuit is formally titled Priscilla Hart v. Pfizer Inc., Case No. 1:13-cv-01222-KBM-RHS, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.