Pfizer's Wins Appeal: Lipitor Diabetes Litigation Dismissed

Pfizer's Wins Appeal: Lipitor Diabetes Litigation Dismissed

Introduction

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit confirmed dismissal order for all Lipitor diabetes cases passed by U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel in 2017 since there was no reversible error for the decision.

In the dismissal order issued by Judge Gergel, almost all of the plaintiffs’ expert witness testimony was excluded and a motion for summary judgment was filed by the drug maker, arguing that the plaintiffs failed to prove their case without an expert opinion. The plaintiffs appealed the federal court’s decision to dismiss almost 2,000 cases from the MDL, and an opinion was issued by the Fourth Circuit’s three-judge panel on June 12 supporting the lower court's take on Lipitor litigation.

Pfizer’s Lipitor is a cholesterol-lowering drug facing litigation over the risk of Type-2 diabetes in female patients. More than 3,000 women filed product liability cases against Pfizer in the federal court, which were consolidated into a multidistrict litigation ( MDL No.2502; In Re: Lipitor (Atorvastatin Calcium) Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation (No. II)) in South Carolina.