A Lipitor lawsuit has been filed against Pfizer Inc. and its subsidiary, Greenstone LLC, alleging the prescription cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor (atorvastatin calcium) causes type-2 diabetes.

According to the Lipitor multidistrict litigation (MDL), Pfizer knew, or should have known, about the potential link between Lipitor and type-2 diabetes, yet withheld information from consumers and the medical community while turning the medication into one of the most widely used brand name drugs in the United States.

Among the most recent Lipitor diabetes lawsuits is that of plaintiff Joyce Shepherd, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina in October. Shepherd contends she was prescribed Lipitor in 2000 to address her risk for heart disease. At the time, according to her Lipitor lawsuit, she was considered a healthy weight. However, in 2008, Shepherd was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes.

Shepherd’s Lipitor lawsuit alleges Pfizer knew, or should have known, that there was a connection between Lipitor and diabetes before it was made publicly available in 1997. Instead, the warning was only added to the product labeling in February 2012, after the FDA’s Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products requested that a warning be provided for consumers and the medical community.

The Lipitor diabetes lawsuit further accuses Pfizer of putting profits before patient safety and further alleges that even after the label change, Lipitor’s label still does not adequately warn patients about the risk of type-2 diabetes.

How is Lipitor Causing Diabetes?

Several studies have uncovered a link between Lipitor and type-2 diabetes, a lifelong condition that causes a patient to develop high blood sugar levels. In the body, food is broken down into sugar (glucose), which travels through the bloodstream. Researchers suspect that Lipitor can inhibit the function of the pancreatic cells responsible for storing and releasing insulin, and may also decrease the body’s sensitivity to the hormone.

In February 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a statement on Lipitor and statins. The agency warned that patients taking these drugs may have an increased risk of developing high blood sugar levels and type-2 diabetes, and announced that changes will be made to the drugs’ labeling to reflect this concern. According to an FDA spokesperson, prescribing doctors should assess patients’ blood sugar levels after they have started treatment with Lipitor or another statin.

Pfizer currently faces more than 700 type-2 diabetes lawsuits over Lipitor. Recently, a request was filed to centralize the Lipitor diabetes litigation before one judge for coordinated handling as part of an MDL, and the request was granted.

The Lipitor Type-2 Diabetes Lawsuit is In Re: Lipitor (Atorvastatin Calcium) Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 2:14-cv-03738-RMG, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Charleston Division.