Pfizer Awarded Partial Summary Judgment in S.C. Federal Lipitor Diabetes MDL

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The South Carolina federal judge overseeing the Lipitor multidistrict litigation has granted in part Pfizer’s omnibus motion for summary judgment, ruling that plaintiffs failed to present sufficient evidence that their ingestion of less than 80 mg. of the drug caused them to develop diabetes.

On Jan. 3, Judge Richard M. Gergel of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina held that expert testimony, which is lacking in those cases, is required to prove general and specific causation for plaintiffs to overcome summary judgment.

In February 2014, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation created a …