June 27, 2016 — Approximately 3,000 lawsuits have been filed by people who say Pfizer failed to warn about the risk of type-2 diabetes from the blockbuster anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor.
The lawsuits have been centralized in the U.S. District Court for South Carolina, (MDL No. 2502).
On June 24, Pfizer filed a motion (PDF) asking the federal judge overseeing the MDL to dismiss all lawsuits involving people who took doses of Lipitor lower than 80-mg. Pfizer say the plaintiffs do not have admissible expert testimony to prove that Lipitor causes diabetes.
In May, Pfizer successfully avoided a whistleblower lawsuit that was filed in 2004 by Jesse Polansky, a former medical director. He said Pfizer illegally marketed Lipitor for “off-label” purposes and defrauded the government by causing Medicare and Medicaid to overpay for unnecessary drugs.
In a unanimous decision, the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals rejected the whistleblower lawsuit because prescribing recommendations on the label do not amount to legal restrictions:
“We cannot accept plaintiff’s theory that what scientists at the National Cholesterol Education Program clearly intended to be advisory guidance is transformed into a legal restriction simply because the FDA has determined to pass along that advice through the label.”
The Schmidt Firm, PLLC has been recognized as one of the nation’s leading plaintiffs' law firms and handles cases in all 50 states. We are very proud of our legal achievements, but equally self-respecting of our firm's reputation for providing personal attention to each and every client we represent.
