A Massachusetts woman filed a Lipitor diabetes lawsuit against Pfizer Inc. for injuries she allegedly suffered after ingesting the cholesterol drug. She alleges that as a direct result of using Lipitor, she developed type-2 diabetes.

Plaintiff Judy E. is one of millions of Americans who contend with high cholesterol levels, and had taken treatment measures to reduce the risks associated with it. High cholesterol is often associated with heart disease, shorter lifespans, and other complications.

To prevent this, Judy’s physician had prescribed Lipitor for her to take in 1998, and she continued taking the drug for a decade, the Lipitor diabetes lawsuit states.

Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes in 2002 while she was still taking Lipitor, and has had to contend with the side effects of the disease since, such as taking a variety of medications to balance her diabetic symptoms, take regular blood tests, adhere to a strict diabetic diet, and see her doctor regularly.

Despite her diagnosis, Judy had stayed on Lipitor for a number of years because it had been successful in keeping her cholesterol levels low. However in 2008, she stopped taking the drug when it was discovered that Liptior may have caused her to develop type-2 diabetes, the Lipitor lawsuit explains. If this is true, this means that Lipitor has made the plaintiff more vulnerable to heart disease, which is what the medication was supposed to prevent.

Judy is filing this Lipitor diabetes lawsuit against Pfizer for failing to protect her against Lipitor’s side effects, and she is accusing the company of knowing about this possibility but choosing not to publicize it. The plaintiff’s lawyers state that Pfizer had the civil responsibility of warning her and other Lipitor patients of all their product’s side effects because they rely on the accuracy of the drug’s label.

Judy insists in her Lipitor lawsuit that she never would have taken Lipitor if she had known about the possibility of type-2 diabetes.

For being allegedly responsible for manufacturing, selling, distributing, and marketing a dangerous drug, Judy is suing Pfizer Inc. The charges include: negligence, false advertising, concealing information, and misrepresenting a product.

This Lipitor Diabetes Lawsuit is In re: Lipitor (Atorvastatin Calcium) Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2502, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Charleston Division.

Overview of Lipitor Diabetes Complications

Lipitor was approved by the FDA in 1996 to be a cholesterol-treatment medication that would be prescribed to patients who were at high risk for developing heart disease. It is manufactured by Pfizer, and has arguably been the company’s most successful drug.

Lipitor garnered over $7 billion in sales in 2011. Lipitor was also declared the best-selling drug in pharmaceutical history in 2012, after generating $125 billion in approximately 14.5 years. Even with the recent approval of generic Lipitor to be produced and sold, it remains one of the most widely-prescribed medications in the world.

Many experts feel that Lipitor and other statin drugs gain their success from their fast-acting treatment mechanism, and the little competition they face on the market. Lipitor works by absorbing bad cholesterol while encouraging the production of good cholesterol, which encourages the patient to live a healthier and more active lifestyle; this drug has successfully prevented heart disease to millions.Unfortunately, this drug and its manufacturer have come under fire for its recent association with type-2 diabetes, which was announced by the FDA in February 2012.

Specifically, the FDA called for Lipitor’s label to be updated to include the side effect of type-2 diabetes, after receiving numerous injury reports. However, Pfizer had only updated Lipitor’s label to include possible changes in blood-sugar levels and did not explain that could open up for the possibility of type-2 diabetes.

As of now, experts are unsure as to why this alleged effect is occurring, but speculate that statin drugs like Lipitor, interfere with the body’s natural production of insulin.

Regardless of the cause, Lipitor patients across America are filing Lipitor diabetes lawsuits against Pfizer for failing to warn them against the drug’s alleged link to type-2 diabetes. Like the plaintiff in this case, most claim that they never would have taken Lipitor if they had known about the association.