Dr. Eric Topol is a cardiologist with the Scripps Clinic and a recognized pioneer in the field of cardiovascular medicine. For fourteen years, he ran the Cleveland Health Clinic, has authored over 1100 articles and 30 books, and was a founder of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine.
An OP Ed article he wrote in the New York Times on March 5, 2012 about statins bears reexamination in light of the revelations in January of 2012, in a study published in the medical journal, Archives of Internal Medicine, that found that female patients between the ages of 50 and 79 who took statin medications (i.e., Lipitor and other LDL-lowering drugs) were 48 percent more likely to develop type-2 diabetes as compared to women in the same age group who did not take the drugs.
In his article entitled “The Diabetes Dilemma For Statin Users”, Dr. Topol looked at several large studies about statins, their potency and effect, including Lipitor (Atorvastatin), Zocor (simvastatin) and Crestor (Rosuvastatin), and stated that with the more potent statins including Lipitor, Crestor and Zocor, “particularly at higher doses, that the risk of diabetes shows up. The cause and effect was unequivocal because the multiple large trials of the more potent statins had a consistent excess of diabetes.”
Recognizing the data is not yet clear to say with precision at which dose excess diabetes shows up for each drug, Dr. Topol stated, “Let’s just round this off and say that one in every 200 patients treated with any of the three most potent statins will get the side effect of diabetes. That’s quite a conservative number because diabetes was not even being carefully looked for in most of the trials. And we have data for only 5 years of treatment; it might be worse with longer statin therapy.”
Dr. Topol concluded his March 4, 2012 OP Ed by saying “The information that we have does not support that this is a “small” problem unless one considers more than 100,000 new diabetics insignificant. The problem of statin-induced diabetes cannot be underplayed while the country is being overdosed.”
Click here to read the full New York Times article: The Diabetes Dilemma for Statin Users
We are currently investigating these cases for a number of women. The Brandi Law Firm is nationally recognized for its long involvement in cases involving defects in drugs or devices. If you or a loved one have taken Lipitor and been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, based on medical studies, there is a potential claim against the manufacturer. If you would like more information, please visit our Lipitor Lawyer Information Center, or call 415-989-1800 or (800) 481-1615.
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