Bayer launches new birth control pill amid a flurry of Yaz lawsuits
August 24th, 2010 by Jennifer Walker-Journey
It wasn’t enough that Bayer Healthcare overwhelmed the oral contraceptive market with its No. 1 selling, $800 million-earning Yaz birth control pill. The powerful drug company is at it again, this time introducing a new oral contraceptive, Natazia.
Bayer cleverly launched Yaz in 2006, promising that the new formulation birth control pill – a combination of ethinyl estradiol and drospirenone – not only prevented pregnancy but also helped treat premenstrual symptoms and acne. Women began to ask their doctors for the pill by name, skyrocketing sales. Soon after, a review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found the ads for Yaz to be misleading. The agency accused Bayer of over-stating the drug’s benefits and covering up its risks, and ordered the company to run correction ads. But the new formulation of active ingredients offered by Yaz had already hit superstar status among women.
Gradually, however, reports of women suffering sometimes fatal blood clots and other serious health problems began to surface. Bayer is now facing more than 2,000 lawsuits from women who allege they were not adequately warned that Yaz could cause them serious harm.
Rising out of the flurry of lawsuits, Bayer seems determined not to lose ground in all the bad press from Yaz. It is launching Natazia. This pill contains a new type of estrogen that has never been used before in an oral contraceptive. It hits the market with a Black Box Warning on its safety label, informing that women with a high risk of arterial or venous thrombotic diseases, undiagnosed abnormal genital bleeding, breast cancer or other estrogen- or progestin-sensitive cancer, liver tumors (benign or malignant) or liver disease, or who are pregnant, not to take Natazia. For women who don’t fall under any of the risk categories, is Natazia worth trying?
National Public Radio this week responded to the news of Natazia this way: “It’s a good time to look at the Yaz saga and see if it has anything to teach women and their doctors when they choose a contraceptive.” Indeed. The moral of this story: Beware of the latest and greatest drugs unless there’s some reason that the ones that have been around for a while don’t work for you.