Seven months after the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation denied centralizing Lipitor diabetes lawsuits, the JPML has agreed to consolidate all federal cases accusing Pfizer Inc. of failing to warn consumers that Lipitor may increase the risk of type-2 diabetes.

The JPML previously denied creating a Lipitor MDL in July 2013 after finding there were not enough lawsuits against Pfizer. According to an order issued Feb. 18, there are now at least 56 Lipitor diabetes lawsuits filed throughout the federal court system, which will be transferred to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina under Judge Richard M. Gergel.

The location is one that was proposed by the majority of alleged victims of Lipitor type-2 diabetes side effects. While Pfizer opposed centralization in general, it supported that district “if an MDL was created over its objections.” Up to 170 additional Lipitor diabetes lawsuits are estimated to have been filed in recent weeks, which could be transferred to the new Lipitor MDL.

That increase in cases was one reason the JPML chose to centralize Lipitor lawsuits, as the numbers had grown from five actions and 24 potential tag-along actions. More importantly, the panel noted that the majority of each complaint is markedly similar, alleging that Pfizer failed to adequately warn women of the possibility of Lipitor type-2 diabetes side effects, and that a 2012 label change failed to address concerns regarding those conditions.

Since 14 Lipitor lawsuits are already pending in South Carolina, cases will begin to be transferred there under the jurisdiction of Judge Gergel, who “has been on the federal bench for almost four years, and was in private practice for more than twenty years prior to that.”

The new Lipitor diabetes MDL is In re: Lipitor (atorvastatin calcium) Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation (No. II), MDL No. 2502, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.