September 18, 2015 — Another 500 lawsuits involving Lipitor and type-2 diabetes have been filed since May, bringing the total number of cases to 2,550 in the centralized federal litigation.
The statistics (PDF) were released by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) earlier this week.
The lawsuits are centralized in the U.S. District Court for South Carolina under Judge Richard M. Gergel, MDL No. 2502.
All of the plaintiffs accuse Pfizer of downplaying evidence linking Lipitor and type-2 diabetes. In 2012, the FDA warned about studies linking Lipitor and a 27% higher rate of diabetes — and even higher risks for post-menopausal women.
According to one study, 10% of post-menopausal women on Lipitor developed diabetes — a 50% increased risk compared to women who did not use Lipitor.
One of those women, Wilma Daniels, was selected for the first “bellwether” trial. She was diagnosed with diabetes in 2004 after taking Lipitor for six years. Her lawsuit (Case No. 2:14-cv-01400) was filed in Colorado last year. According to the complaint:
“For the rest of her life she must undergo regular testing of her blood glucose levels, adhere to a restrictive diabetic diet, and take medication to control her diabetes. Due to her diabetes, she is now at markedly increased risk of heart disease, blindness, neuropathy, and kidney disease.”
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