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A new focus on Bayer’s Yaz birth control pills
-- Tags: drug safety, Food and Drug Administration, Medical negligence, pharmaceutical companies, pharmaceuticals;
Category:
In Brief;
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The trendy Yaz and Yasmin birth control pills are Bayer’s most popular drugs. And they are the world’s most popular birth control pills, having grown to annual sales of more than $1.8 billion.
Unfortunately, the pills may be dangerous. They contain a new synthetic hormone, drospirenone, which has never before been used in a birth control pill. Some women who take Yaz or Yasmin have suffered harmful side effects, including blood clots that can lead to strokes and heart attacks.
But although the drugs carry additional risk, they are no more effective than traditional birth control pills, according to two recent studies published in the British Medical Journal.
Lawyers Mike Danko of the Danko Law Firm and A.J De Bartolemeo of Girard Gibbs represent more than 50 women who have been seriously injured by Yaz and Yasmin, including a California woman who has sued Bayer in federal court. Bayer has agreed to turn over more than 30 million pages of documents in that suit. Danko and De Bartolomeo will soon begin combing through the documents to determine what Bayer knew of the risks, and why it failed to disclose them.
We have more on this issue in a post on our Issues page, under Medical Negligence.
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Category: In Brief;