Pfizer Swamped by Lipitor Lawsuits

Over the past five months, the number of women suing pharmaceutical giant Pfizer over its cholesterol drug Lipitor has gone from 56 to almost 1,000. The women claim the company knew a serious side-effect of the drug could give them Type-2 diabetes. The spike in lawsuits came after a decision by a federal judicial panel to group all Lipitor diabetes lawsuits into one courtroom, a move which Pfizer opposed because it thought it would encourage copycat filings. Pfizer denies it is liable and is fighting the lawsuit. The lawsuits began when the FDA changed its warning for Lipitor and other statins saying they had been linked to memory loss and a "small increased risk" of diabetes.