Lipitor: Big Drug Alleged to Be Big Trouble

Washington, DCLipitor (atorvastatin) is bar none one of the most popular and oft-prescribed medications out there, and remains a giant in the statin sector. Coupled with the increasing incidence of physicians opting to prescribe a statin as a preventative for patients who are at higher risk for cardiovascular disease or stroke (rather than for treatment of an actual event), there is little doubt as to Lipitor’s weight and profile. However, the risk for atorvastatin type 2 diabetes has been a cause for discomfort amongst statin patients, and has driven many to file a Lipitor lawsuit.

To be fair, Lipitor is not the only statin that puts patients at risk for developing type 2 diabetes, regardless of family history and other risk factors. Nevertheless, plaintiffs in lawsuits claim that prior to February 2012, when the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandated that the manufacturers of Lipitor and other statins include associated risk to blood sugar levels, evidence of warnings as to diabetes risk was little to none.

To that end, one plaintiff in a Lipitor type 2 diabetes lawsuit alleges that a warning as to glucose levels without specifically referencing “type 2 diabetes” is misleading and fails to serve any member of the general public who does not comprehend the relationship between blood sugar, glucose levels and diabetes. For them, a warning that fails to reference the term “diabetes” is lost.

As for Lipitor Diabetes Lawsuits MDL, a release from PRWeb Newswire (9/7/13) reports a ruling by the US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation that saw a request by plaintiffs to consolidate Lipitor diabetes lawsuits in a single federal court in order to facilitate pretrial proceedings rejected.

That said, Lipitor patients who have developed type 2 diabetes without the presence of various other risk factors - and thus allege their type 2 diabetes was triggered by Lipitor - can file a Lipitor MDL lawsuit (In re Lipitor (Atorvastatin) Litigation, MDL No. 2459 (JPML)).

Margaret Clark is one such litigant. She claims in her atorvastatin type 2 diabetes lawsuit that Lipitor warnings were too vague and came too late to be of use to her and other Lipitor plaintiffs.

There is much concern over the potential for adverse incidents with regard to Lipitor - and one only has to go as far as BMJ, the respected medical journal, to get a true sense of just what is possible. One statin study was released in March of this year and appeared in BMJ noting that statin patients faced a 30 percent increased risk of hospitalization for acute kidney damage within just four months of starting on a statin such as Lipitor. Two months later, the venerable BMJ was back with a statin study that suggests Lipitor patients face a 22 percent higher risk for the onset of type 2 diabetes. (“Risk of incident diabetes among patients treated with statins: population based study,” BMJ 5/23/13.)

It gives pause for patients to consider what is worse: high levels of bad cholesterol or the risk for kidney damage and atorvastatin type 2 diabetes associated with Lipitor and other statins of its ilk.