In the past five months U.S. women have been blaming Lipitor side effects for their Type 2 Diabetes. According to a Reuters investigation, lawsuits have soared from 56 to nearly 1,000 cases representing 4,000 women.
Lipitor Side Effects And The Lawsuits
Pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, is facing a ton of lawsuits claiming the company knew about possible lipitor side effects, but failed to warn the public.
In 2012, after the FDA warned that Lipitor and other statins had been linked to incidents of memory loss and a “small increased risk” of diabetes, lawsuits began to be filed.
Women face a higher risk than men of developing diabetes from using Lipitor and gain fewer benefits, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyers.
The recent increase in lawsuits followed a decision by a federal judicial panel to consolidate all Lipitor diabetes lawsuits from around the country into a single Federal courtroom in Charleston, SC.
Pfizer opposed the consolidation, arguing it would prompt copycat filings. Pfizer also denied liability and stated that it would fight the lawsuits.
The first case is scheduled to be tried July 2015.
Problems With Lipitor Lawsuit?
Several factors set the Lipitor diabetes case apart from those against other drug companies.
Firstly, Lipitor is the best-selling prescription drug of all time with a global sales record of more than $130 billion since 1996, when it went on the market.
More than 29 million patients in the United States have been prescribed the drug suggesting that there is a vast pool of potential plaintiffs.
After Lipitor’s label change in 2012, the FDA still stood behind the drug, stating that the heart benefits of statins outweighed the small increased risk for diabetes.
The lead lawyer appointed to represent Lipitor plaintiffs in federal court argued that plaintiffs contracted diabetes as a consequence of taking Lipitor. Furthermore, women with diabetes see the length and quality of their lives reduced.
Pfizer said it believes Lipitor did not cause the plaintiffs’ diabetes. Women who are prescribed Lipitor to control cholesterol may share other risk factors that make them vulnerable to the diseases, such as high blood pressure or obesity.