NEW ORLEANS – The family of a deceased Mississippi woman says Pfizer was negligent in the design, development and marketing of cholesterol drug Lipitor, which they say caused their mother to develop diabetes.
Cheryl Sephus and her brothers, Steven and Stanley Sephus and Lashawn Peters, the surviving next of kin of Phillipa Peters, filed a lawsuit Nov. 6 in Eastern District Court against pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer, Inc., citing breach of express warranty in rehibition, fraud and wrongful death.
According to the complaint, statin drug Lipitor, prescribed to lower cholesterol levels, also carries a significant risk of causing its users to develop diabetes. Peters, who took the drug from 1996 until her death in 2014, was diagnosed in 1997 with Type 2 diabetes. Complications from the disease required Peters to undergo dialysis, the suit says, until her Nov. 9, 2014, death.
The plaintiffs seek a jury trial and punitive and compensatory damages, plus litigation costs. They are represented by attorneys Jeremy J. Pichon, Caleb H. Didriksen, Erin Bruce Saucier and Carl A. Woods of the New Orleans firm Didriksen Law.
U.S. District Court for the Louisiana Eastern District Court Case number 2:15-cv-05754