A Lipitor lawsuit has been filed against Pfizer Inc. by a Tennessee woman who alleges she developed type-2 diabetes due to taking Lipitor.

Before being prescribed Lipitor in 2007, plaintiff Dorothy Austill was reportedly evaluated to be a healthy individual who routinely exercised and had a steady diet, according to her Lipitor lawsuit. She was prescribed the cholesterol medication due to her age and to decrease the likelihood of developing cardiac disease, her Lipitor lawsuit lawyer says.

Austill’s prescription lasted until 2013 after she discovered that the reason for her diabetic reaction may have been in direct result of the drug, according to her Lipitor diabetes lawsuit. She was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes in June 2011, but continued taking Lipitor because she had no reason to believe of a connection.

When she was prescribed the cholesterol medication, Austill was not told of the Lipitor diabetes risk nor were there any indications on the drug’s label, according to her Lipitor side effects lawsuit. Lipitor’s warning label does not mention type-2 diabetes specifically, but beginning in February 2012 the label included that the drug may change the body’s blood sugar levels, according to Lipitor class action lawsuits.

Austill’s Lipitor lawsuit accuses Pfizer of negligence, false advertising, concealing information, and misrepresenting a product.

Overview of Lipitor Complications

Lipitor (Atorvastatin) is a statin drug that is manufactured and sold by Pfizer as a cholesterol-treatment medication. It was first approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 1996, and has since become the world’s best-selling drug, as well as the best-selling drug in pharmaceutical history. Many experts believe that Lipitor’s popularity stems from it being a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, which not only prevents the absorption of bad cholesterol, but also promotes the production of good cholesterol, and is known to improve metabolic function. While the public and medical experts agree that the drug helps control cholesterol, it was recently discovered that patients may be experiencing serious Lipitor side effects.

Developing type-2 diabetes is said to be potential side effect in any Lipitor patient, but is a great risk for postmenopausal women. Allegedly, Pfizer knew about this complication but had deliberately concealed it to protect the drug’s high popularity.

Austill’s Lipitor lawsuit is included in the multidistrict litigation In re: Lipitor (Atorvastatin Calcium) Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2502, in the U.S. District Court of South Carolina, Charleston Division.