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# Appeals Court Backs Lipitor Case Dismissal
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/appeals-court-backs-lipitor-case-dismissal/
- Published: 2018-06-12T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T00:12:40.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5141666

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower federal court ruling granting summary judgment to Pfizer in multi-district litigation claiming that the company’s Lipitor led to patients developing diabetes. Washington Legal Foundation (WLF), which filed an *amicus* brief urging vindication of the district court’s application of the *Daubert* standard for ensuring reliable evidence, hailed the [decision](http://www.wlf.org/upload/litigation/misc/lipitor.pdf?ref=fdaweb.com) as a victory.

WLF says the district judge found that the plaintiffs’ experts failed to demonstrate any association between Lipitor and diabetes, and thus excluded the expert testimony under *Daubert* and Federal Rule of Evidence 702\. Although all seven plaintiff experts were excluded, their appeal to the 4th Circuit only covered three.

The WLF brief had argued that the district court acted well within its discretion in excluding the “plaintiffs’ scientifically flimsy expert opinions and that, without such expert testimony, the plaintiffs could not establish causation.”