Doreather McGowens of South Carolina has filed a Lipitor lawsuit against drug giant Pfizer over allegations that the drug has caused her to develop type-2 diabetes.

The text of her Lipitor diabetes lawsuit is sparse, and ties into the existing litigation. Her Lipitor diabetes lawsuit states that McGowens took the drug from 2010 and 2012. In March of 2004, she was diagnosed with diabetes.

Her individual Lipitor diabetes lawsuit ties in with larger legal actions. Since thousands of very similar individual Lipitor diabetes lawsuits have been filed, often hinging on the same evidence and allegations, the legal system has combined them into a single Lipitor MDL (multidistrict litigation). MDLs are a type of coordinated group lawsuit, similar in some ways to class action lawsuit. In both class action lawsuits and MDLs, a group of patients file lawsuits against the same defendant, alleging that they have suffered similar harm under similar conditions.

The main difference is that class action lawsuits are started as group lawsuits, while MDLs start out as individual lawsuits that are grouped together. This is why MDLs are more common in drug lawsuits than class action suits; since patients in drug lawsuits are typically scattered across the country. This makes them unlikely to find each other and coordinate say a Lipitor class action lawsuit.

Instead, they are likely to file individual lawsuits similar enough to be coordinated together into a single MDL. Group lawsuits like MDLs and class action lawsuits are designed to streamline the legal process by combining tens, hundreds, or even thousands of potential individual suits into a single lawsuit or coordinated group of lawsuits.

The bulk of these Lipitor diabetes lawsuits allege that the drug can cause women to develop type-2 diabetes. Various studies have found that women taking Lipitor, a drug that helps control blood cholesterol levels, experienced an increased risk of developing type-2 diabetes. Various epidemiological studies, some using data from thousands of women, were able to rule out many possible cofounders. Additionally, when the FDA demanded changes in the labeling of the drug to reflect this risk, Pfizer only included a statement that the drug increased blood glucose levels and never actually used the word diabetes. The various Lipitor lawsuits allege that these actions are typical of Pfizer’s response to Lipitor diabetes concerns.

The Lipitor Diabetes Lawsuit is Doreather E. McGowens v. Pfizer Inc., Case No. 2:14-cv-3146-RMG, within the larger Lipitor MDL In Re: Lipitor (Atorvastatin Calcium) Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 0502-RMG, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Charleston Division.