Articles Posted in Yaz/Yasmin

In previous blog posts, our drug injury law firm has written about the risks associated with taking Yasmin and Yaz birth control pills. Now, we want to make sure you are aware that Beyaz, another birth control pill made by Bayer, also carries an increased risk of blood clots, heart attack, and stroke.

Beyaz was introduced into the market in 2010. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug because it is similar to the Yaz birth control pill. They are both contraceptive pills that are estrogen/progesterone-based. The difference is that Beyaz has folic acid, which can lower the risks of a neural tube defect should the birth control fail.

Since then, the FDA has told Bayer to modify its warnings on the Yaz label to more clearly disclose the blood clot-related risks. The agency put out a warning in 2011 notifying the public that birth control with drospirenone, a synthetic hormone, has been linked to a greater risk of blood clot. According to the preliminary results of one FDA-funded study, drospirenone in a contraceptive ups the risk of blood clots by about 1.5 times compared to in women who use hormonal birth control.

A California woman claims to have suffered a painful blood clot after taking Yaz/Yazmin oral contraceptive. She is suing the drug manufacturer, Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for allegedly ignoring the warning signals raised by numerous injuries and deaths related to the drug early on in its distribution. The lawsuit states that, “Bayer marketed the pills as safer than older generation oral contraceptives, despite early reports of at least 50 deaths linked to blood clot complications.

Plaintiff Tatiana Barnes is hardly alone in her criticism and legal action against the manufacturer. Countless complications have been attributed to the birth control pills, and many of them have been consolidated into a class action lawsuit against Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals. Barnes has yet to join the class action suit.

She suffered complications from a blood clot in 2009, after being prescribed Yaz/Yasmin/Ocella. The oral contraceptives were only on the market in the United States for ten years; a very short amount of time considering the birth control pill has been in production since the 1960s. Barnes and many other plaintiffs who filed suit against the company say they were never accurately warned of the risks associated with a drug that promised to be safer than previous contraceptives. The FDA has already publicly scolded Bayer for its insistence on the benefits of Yasmin.
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Our Boston drug injury lawyers represent clients who have suffered injuries or lost loved ones because they took Yaz or Yasmin birth control bills or some other type of contraception that left them with serious side effects. Unfortunately, Yaz injury cases continue to occur not just in the US but also abroad as more women develop health complications from taking the pills.

Recently, CBC News reported that both Yaz and Yasmin were linked to the deaths 23 Canadian women. According to Health Canada documents, over half of the victims were younger than 26. The youngest was a 14-year-old. The primary cause of death for most of them appears to have been blood clots, with a number of the women dying just weeks after starting to take the pills. They are reportedly not the only Canadian women to suffer after taking these contraceptions. Hundreds of Yaz/Yasmin lawsuits have been filed in that country.

Nearly a year ago, drug maker Bayer AG said that in the US alone settlements for Yasmin/Yaz injury cases had reached over $402 million. Also in 2012, the US Food and Drug Administration mandated that Bayer and other birth control makers place stronger blood-clot warnings on these medications.

Yaz and Yasmin Injury Cases
Yaz and Yasmin are linked to blood clots that can enter the heart, lungs, and brain, potentially causing deep vein thrombosis, stroke, heart attack, pulmonary embolisms, and death. Other serious conditions that may occur from taking the oral contraceptions include gallbladder disease, myocardial infarction, and cerebrovascular accidents.

Among the allegations is that Bayer did not properly warn doctors and patients about the high risk of serious side effects involved with taking either Yasmin or Yaz, which also has been approved to treat Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder and acne. For a time, Yaz was the leading birth control pill in the US. Now, one too many studies show that this pill comes with a blood clot risk that is higher than other popular contraceptive pills.

In the past, the FDA complained that some ads for Yasmin and Yaz were misleading, perhaps even implying that the pills were clinically superior to other oral contraceptions. Bayer also was accused of running ads that encouraged use of the pills for purposes that the FDA had not approved, downplaying the health risks, or over-promising the benefits.

At Altman & Altman, LLP, our Boston Yaz blood clot lawyers would like to offer you a free case evaluation. We also work with clients that suffered blood clots from taking birth control brands Beyaz and Safyral.

Yaz, Yasmin birth control pills linked to deaths of 23 Canadian women: Health Canada, Global News, June 11, 2013

Bayer’s Yasmin Lawsuit Settlements Rise to $402.6 Million, Bloomberg, July 31, 2012

More Blog Posts:
Yaz-Related Blood Clot Forces Woman to Undergo Emergency Amputation of Her Arm, Drug Injury Lawyers Blog, March 13, 2013

Mirena IUD Injuries: New Case Study Reports on Risks, Drug Injury Lawyers Blog, March 27, 2013

New FDA Report Suggests Exercising Caution About Using Fosamax Long-Term, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, May 11, 2012 Continue reading

A 32-year-old woman who had to have her arm amputated has filed a Yaz blood clot lawsuit against Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals. She developed blood clots after taking the Yaz birth control pill.

The woman, who has a daughter, age 4, started using Yaz in 2007 and continued to do so until last December when she began to experience a tingling in her left arm. Even after going to the hospital right away, it was too late to save her arm. She had developed limb ischaemia, caused by blood clots.

In addition with dealing with the physical and emotional pain and life-altering changes that come with being forced to lose one’s hand, the plaintiff reportedly had to contend with the frustration of finding out that her insurance would not pay for a prosthetic. She is seeking Yaz injury compensation for medical costs and physical therapy expenses.

Already, quite a number of women and their families have filed Yaz injury lawsuits against Bayer Pharmaceuticals claiming that they suffered a stroke because they were taking the popular contraception. If you, too, think that your stroke may have been because you were taking Yaz birth control pills, please contact our drug injury law firm right away.

Stroke

A stroke usually involves the brain cells experiencing a sudden death due to insufficient oxygen. This can occur because the blood flow has been obstructed or the artery that feeds the brain may have become ruptured. Depending on the seriousness of the stroke, a stroke victim may experience difficulty speaking, memory problems, paralysis, bladder problems, and even death. There are two main kinds of stroke:

If you haven’t already filed a products liability complaint against Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals for injuries sustained from taking either Yaz or Yasmin birth control pills, you should contact our drug injury lawyers at Altman & Altman LLP right away. Already, thousands of women in the US alone are suing for damages and more lawsuits are expected.

The bestselling Yaz, touted as the “fourth-generation” pill, has also been marketed as a treatment for acne, bloating, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and for a few years, Bayer spent over $270 million promoting Yaz. The popular contraceptive saw its sales decline, however, in the wake of reports and complaints linking it to a high risk of blood clots and the potentially deadly side effects of stroke, heart attack, high cholesterol, gallbladder disease, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and sudden cardiac death. Also, in 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration forced the pharmaceutical company to spend $20 million on ads revising the contraception’s off-label marketing and other claims. (Even though last year the FDA advisory board voted that Yaz’s benefits outweigh its risks, the Project on Governmental Oversight, a watchdog group, disputed the vote, contending that more than one of the board’s members has financial links to Bayer.)

The potentially deadly side effects of Yaz and Yasmin are being blamed in part on drosperinone, a chemical in the pills that behaves like a diuretic and creates fluid loss, which in turn lowers the sodium in the blood and ups potassium levels. This can cause blood pooling, blood clots, stroke, and heart attack.

Filing Your Yasmin/Yaz Lawsuit
Over the thousands of cases over Yaz /Yasmin against Bayer, only several dozen of them have been settled so far. Many of the plaintiffs filing Yaz lawsuits are accusing Bayer of failing to warn of the injury risks involved in taking the drug. The drug injury lawsuits for Yasmin and Yaz are now consolidated in the Multi-District Litigation in Illinois’s Southern District. However, it is important to note that unlike a regular class action, in an MDL, each plaintiff has his/her individual claim. (The separate Yaz and Yasmin complaints, however, are consolidated for the pre-trial portion of each case.)

Building a solid dangerous drug lawsuit takes time, which is why the sooner you start exploring your legal options and signing up with an experienced Yaz/Yasmin law firm the better. Products liability lawsuits are generally complex and you want to work with a team that knows what it is doing.

FDA Drug Safety Communication: Updated information about the risk of blood clots in women taking birth control pills containing drospirenone, FDA, April 10, 2012

Two New Studies in the British Medical Journal Find That Bayer’s Yaz and Yasmin Birth Control Pills Have an Increased Risk of Blood Clot, Reuters, April 22, 2011
Boston Dangerous Drug Lawsuits: YAZ, Ocella, and Yasmin Birth Control Pills Linked to Deep Vein Thrombosis, Pulmonary Embolism, Stroke, Heart Attack, and Myocardial Infarction Side Effects, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, June 19, 2012

Massachusetts Dangerous Drug?: Women Affected by Yaz Birth Control May Have Grounds for Lawsuit, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, March 26, 2011 Continue reading