A Pennsylvania woman has filed a Lipitor lawsuit against Pfizer Inc. for injuries she allegedly suffered after taking the cholesterol medication. Plaintiff Regina M. Lang alleges she developed type-2 diabetes from using Lipitor.

Lang was first prescribed Lipitor in 2008 to lower her cholesterol levels in order to decrease her chances of developing heart disease. She stayed on Lipitor until 2010. Despite following the instructions provided on the label and from her doctor, Lang was diagnosed in March 2009 with type-2 diabetes.

Lang’s Lipitor lawsuit accuses Pfizer of failing to warn of that risk and for not adequately describing the drug’s side effects on the label. Due to her condition, she is now at a higher risk of developing blindness, neuropathy, kidney disease, and heart disease. Lang is now more susceptible to the condition she had taken Lipitor to prevent. Had she had known about the risks, she says she never would have taken the medication.

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

Overview of Lipitor Complications

Lipitor (Atorvastatin) is a cholesterol treatment drug first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1996, and has since become the nation’s best-selling drug.

This drug is a part of the statin drug family, and is a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor. This hormone prevents the absorption of bad cholesterol. The drug has also been known to increase the production of good cholesterol, and encourage improved metabolic function.

While the drug has been successful, many have started criticizing it because of the severe side effects the drug may be causing in patients. Postmenopausal women appear to be at greatest risk. It is unknown what is causing this reaction, but experts believe it has to do with the patient’s metabolic processes.

Studies and injury reports have indicated patients who take Lipitor and other statin drugs are almost twice as likely to develop type-2 diabetes than when using other cholesterol-treatment drugs. It was not until February 2012 that Pfizer admitted a correlation between Lipitor and the development of type-2 diabetes. After receiving numerous injury reports, and at the FDA’s request, Pfizer changed Lipitor’s drug label in 2012 to mention the drug may change the patient’s blood-sugar levels. However, the label still does not explicitly mention type-2 diabetes.

This Lipitor lawsuit is Regina M. Lang and Walter E. Lang v. Pfizer Inc., Case No. 2:14-cv-01612-RMG, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.