In spite of concerns about Lipitor’s affect on blood glucose levels, Pfizer Inc. is pushing ahead with developing an over-the-counter version of Lipitor. Currently, over 220 Lipitor lawsuits are pending in courts across the country, alleging that the cholesterol drug caused women to develop type-2 diabetes.

Lipitor is in a class of medications called statins. It works to lower the amount of cholesterol in the blood. Since cholesterol is a function of both diet and a patient’s biology, diet and exercise may not be enough to lower cholesterol for all patients.

Lipitor specifically addresses the issue of high cholesterol caused by the patient’s own physiology. However, the drug has been linked to an increased risk of developing new onset type-2 diabetes, particularly in postmenopausal women.

>>Lipitor Side Effects: Diabetes

As of now, all forms of Lipitor, both name-brand and generic, require a prescription and a physician’s supervision. When a patient takes Lipitor, a physician monitors him or her to see if the drug is safely lowering cholesterol and to watch out for signs of serious side effects like diabetes and muscle weakness.

If this new lower dose version Lipitor is approved, it would be the first cholesterol medication ever sold over-the-counter. It would also be the first over-the-counter statin.

Pfizer is currently running a clinical trial to explore the possibility of marketing Lipitor over-the-counter. The clinical trial has 1,200 patients and involves 35 different pharmacies across the country. One of the aims of the study is to see if a patient is able to take the drug successfully without doctor supervision and if he or she is able to manage the monitoring his  or her own cholesterol levels.

Several things may have influenced Pfizer’s decision to try and develop an over-the-counter statin. First, new guidelines have come out from several medical organizations. These have indicated that many more people should be taking statins to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease. Pfizer’s representatives have stated that their push to make an over-the-counter Lipitor is to fill this “statin gap.”

However, others have speculated that the push for a new approval has more to do with the lapse on Lipitor’s patent. Generic versions of Lipitor began hitting the market in 2011, causing Lipitor sales to plummet. Over-the-counter Lipitor (or a slightly-modified version of the drug) could either allow Pfizer to file a new patent or at the very least generate more income from their drug.

All of this is in spite of the fact that both lawsuits and research have linked Lipitor to an increased risk of developing type-2 diabetes. This link is allegedly most pronounced in postmenopausal women.