A North Carolina woman filed a product liability lawsuit against Pfizer Inc. on Dec. 20, 2013 after she developed new onset type-2 diabetes, which she alleges was caused by taking the heart disease medication Lipitor.

Plaintiff Rita Greeson of Fayetteville, North Carolina began taking Lipitor in November 2010 as part of her treatment to lower her cholesterol, particularly her low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and prevent the development of heart disease, which Pfizer claimed Lipitor was an effective treatment for.

However, in January 2011, Greeson was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes and stopped taking Lipitor sometime in 2012.  She must now submit to regular testing of her blood glucose levels, eat a restrictive diet, and rely on diabetes medication. She also has a much higher chance of developing heart disease, blindness, neuropathy, and kidney disease, according to her Lipitor lawsuit.

Pfizer Accused of Concealing Lipitor Diabetes Risk

Until February 2012, Pfizer had not issued any warnings concerning how Lipitor affected changes in blood sugar levels.

“Despite its knowledge of data indicating that Lipitor is causally related to the development of type-2 diabetes and/or blood glucose levels diagnostic for type-2 diabetes, Pfizer promoted and marketed Lipitor as sage and effective for persons such as Plaintiff throughout the United States, including this judicial district,” the Lipitor lawsuit states.

According to the lawsuit, Pfizer began changing the Lipitor labels in August 2011 after a review was released by the FDA’s Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products.

Pfizer then added a warning to the Lipitor labels in early 2012 saying that the class of drugs that Lipitor belonged was linked to an increase in glucose levels.

However, the Lipitor label still fails to warn patients that the cholesterol medication can lead to type-2 diabetes, choosing instead to use ambiguous language that it can increase “HbA1c and fasting serum glucose levels,” the lawsuit notes.

Studies Link Lipitor to Type-2 Diabetes

There have been several studies that have shown a link between Lipitor and the development of type-2 diabetes, primarily in women.

One Lipitor study done at the University of Massachusetts Medical School looked at 154,000 women over a seven year time-span who took Lipitor and found that post-menopausal women over the age of 63 who were taking the cholesterol medication had an almost 50 percent greater likelihood of developing type-2 diabetes when compared with women who didn’t take any statins. This was the conclusion after they took into account factors such as obesity, lack of exercise and age.

“Despite its knowledge of data indicating that Lipitor is causally related to the development of type-2 diabetes and/or blood glucose levels diagnostic for type-2 diabetes, Pfizer promoted and marketed Lipitor as safe and effective for persons such as Plaintiff throughout the United States, including this judicial district,” the Lipitor lawsuit says.

“Despite the February 2012 label change, Lipitor’s label continues to fail to warn consumers of the serious risk of developing type-2 diabetes per se when using Lipitor,” Greeson’s Lipitor lawsuit states.

The North California woman is charging Pfizer with failure to warn, negligence, breach of implied warranty, fraud, constructive fraud and unjust enrichment.

She is suing for punitive damages, general damages, compensatory damages, consequential damages and any other relief the court decides is also appropriate.

The Lipitor lawsuit is Rita C. Greeson v. Pfizer Inc., Case No. 5:13-cv-00869-BO, in the U.S. District for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Western Division.