Lipitor lawsuits alleging that the statin medication caused some patients to develop Type 2 diabetes continues to move forward in a federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) now underway in U.S. District Court, District of South Carolina.
According to a Status Report issued on September 12, 2014, Pfizer, Inc., the manufacturer of Lipitor, has produced millions of documents for discovery since August 15, 2014. The defense has also deposed 3 of the 14 plaintiffs whose claims were selected for the litigations Discovery Pool, the remainder of which will be completed by October 22, 2014. A number of former Pfizer employees will be scheduled for depositions, as well.
Court documents indicate that more than 1,200 Lipitor lawsuits have been filed in the federal MDL on behalf of plaintiffs who allege the cholesterol-lowering statin increases the risk that a patient will develop Type 2 diabetes. As we have previously posted on our blog, among other things, the lawsuits accuse Pfizer of having knowledge of this association and concealing it from doctors and patients until federal regulators ordered all statin manufacturers to add new information about diabetes risks to their labels in 2012. Plaintiffs also contend that the implementation of Pfizer’s label modification at that time was not adequate, and still does not sufficiently warn Lipitor users of the potential increased risk for Type 2 diabetes.
According to court records, the Lipitor litigation has been growing since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered the label modification in February 2012. This FDA order followed a study published in JAMA: Internal Medicine, indicating that women using statins like Lipitor may be at an increased risk of developing the disease.
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes following Lipitor use, you may be entitled to compensation for your damages against Pfizer. For more information, contact one of our Gacovino Lake attorneys at 1-800-246-HURT (4878).
