Lipitor, a drug designed to help lower “bad” levels of cholesterol, has also been linked to type-2 diabetes, especially in women over 50. However, one California woman who recently filed her own Lipitor lawsuit claims that the drug might be responsible for causing a “national epidemic” of diabetes in women who are otherwise healthy and aren’t at risk of developing the disease.

Aubrey Isom filed her Lipitor lawsuit on Aug. 15, 2013, and joins the ranks of many other women who were diagnosed with diabetes after starting Lipitor. According to her Lipitor diabetes lawsuit, Isom started her Lipitor prescription in 2006 in an effort to lower her cholesterol levels, which in turn could lower her risk of cardiovascular disease. Like many women, taking preventative care was supposed to be a wise move, but she says she didn’t know that Lipitor and diabetes were linked since Pfizer Inc. (the drug maker) didn’t adequately put diabetes warnings on the label or any informational sheets.

Isom reportedly took Lipitor for one year before she was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes. She says that Pfizer knew that Lipitor caused an increased risk of diabetes, but chose not to update warnings or warn the medical community and patients well enough about the Lipitor risks.

In her Lipitor lawsuit, she says her injuries (which include a lifelong change to diet as well as an increased risk of developing other problems) were avoidable.

“Lipitor has been implicated in a national epidemic of type-2 diabetes in women taking Lipitor,” reads her complaint. Now, like others who suffer from diabetes, Isom has to stick to a strict diabetic diet for life as well as regular exercise. She’s also now at a higher risk of blindness, amputations, and even heart disease which was the very thing she was trying to prevent by taking Lipitor.

There are a number of drugs on the market to treat cholesterol, but Lipitor is “one of the most widely used” according to Isom’s Lipitor lawsuit. Millions of people take medication to keep their cholesterol in check, but with Pfizer enjoying $125 billion in sales, there’s a very large chunk of that patient load who have been prescribed what women like Isom are describing as a dangerous drug.

Even though Lipitor has been on the market for years, it wasn’t until February 2012 that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) forced Pfizer to include diabetes warnings on packaging. For the first time, patients were informed in writing that they may experience changes to their blood sugar levels when taking Lipitor. For many Lipitor victims, such as Isom, this change came too late.

“Even though Defendant knew of the risks for several years, medical providers were unaware that the use of Lipitor caused type-2 diabetes in female patients. As a result, thousands of women taking Lipitor were unaware that the drug was affecting their blood sugar levels,” she says.

Had women been informed of their risk, Isom says, they could have taken another cholesterol medication or kept an eye on their blood sugar levels in order to catch the changes in the levels before type-2 diabetes became an issue.

Isom says Pfizer either knew about the risks or should have known for years, well before the FDA stepped in, and some critics say that the diabetes warnings Pfizer has included are still not enough. They’re called “vague” and some worry that the language isn’t strong enough to relay just how big the Lipitor risks may be. In Isom’s case, she’s suing Pfizer for failure to warn, deceit by concealment, breach of warranty, negligent misrepresentation, fraud by concealment, and violating the California consumer protection laws. She’s seeking both punitive and compensatory damages.

Number of Lipitor Lawsuits Continues to Grow

While there are many women filing Lipitor lawsuits across the country, Isom’s particular lawsuit was filed soon after the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation rejected a request to centralize cases that have been brought to the federal court system. Even though the grouped Lipitor lawsuits might seem like a good idea to some, the MDL panel decided that each case should be individual. However, there’s still hope for a Lipitor MDL moving forwards.

Joining a Lipitor MDL is an avenue for victims like Isom to get fast, fair resolutions without having the same discoveries revealed over and over again. Even in MDL, plaintiffs get their own trial and unique circumstances considered.

The Lipitor diabetes lawsuit is Aubrey Isom v. Pfizer Inc., et al., Case No. 8:13-cv-01250, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.