New Mexico Woman Says Lipitor Gave Her Diabetes
By Courtney Coren
A New Mexico woman has filed a Lipitor lawsuit against Pfizer Inc. after she developed diabetes, which she claims is a direct result of the cholesterol medication.
Mary Lee White began taking Lipitor (atorvastatin) in March 2012 for the purpose of lowering her high cholesterol numbers and to help reduce her risk for developing cardiovascular disease. Lipitor is in the class of drugs known as statins that was developed in the mid-1990s by Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research, a division of the Warner-Lambert Company.
Warner-Lambert made a co-marketing agreement with Pfizer regarding Lipitor not long after the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug to be marketed in the United States. In the summer of 2000, Pfizer acquired Warner-Lambert including all rights to Lipitor.
In May 2013, White was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes. Due to this diagnosis, 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. Until February 2012, Pfizer had not issued any warnings concerning the affects Lipitor had on changes in blood sugar levels.
“Despite its knowledge of date 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 says.
According to the Lipitor 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 to 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.
The New Mexico woman is charging Pfizer with failure to warn, negligence, breach of warranty, fraud and unjust enrichment. White is asking for punitive damages, general damages, medical expenses related to the diabetes side effects, full refund for the money White paid for Lipitor, compensatory damages, consequential damages, and attorney fees.
The Lipitor type-2 diabetes lawsuit is Mary Lee White v. Pfizer, Inc., Case No. 1:13-cv-00834-JCH-RHS, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.
If you or someone you know was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes after taking Lipitor, legal options may be available to you. Learn more and get a free legal consultation regarding a claim’s eligibility at the Lipitor Diabetes Class Action Lawsuit Investigation. Experienced legal professionals have access to medical experts to assess whether or not Lipitor played a role in your development of type-2 diabetes, so act now.
All medical device, dangerous drug and medical class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Drug and Medical Device section of Top Class Actions.
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