Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

The contraceptive business has boomed since the birth control pill hit the market 50 years ago. Now birth control comes in the form of pills, patches, rings, implants and intrauterine devices, and the makers of such products claim they are even safer than before. Judging by the thousands lawsuits filed by women who claim they suffered life-threatening blood clots, strokes and gallbladder problems because of the contraceptives, safety may still be an issue. But Salon.com opinion editor Geraldine Sealey claims birth control pills brought on another, less known, side effect – the loss of her libido.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bayer boasted a 63.1 percent increase in net income for the first quarter of 2010, but the firm’s pharmaceutical sales were a big disappointment, according to PharmaTimes. Bayer posted increases in its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization as well as in its group turnover. However Bayer’s health care sales stayed flat while pharmaceutical revenues fell a disappointing 2.2 percent.

Read the rest of this entry »

“The decision to begin taking Yaz was catastrophic in our lives,” says Christopher Hull of Bedford, Texas, in a response to a comment on the April 19, 2010, Los Angeles Times article “New Pills, New Issues,” which addressed the safety of birth control pills. Ivan Garcia of Los Angeles had argued the article was “discouraging” for an up-and-coming college student considering the medical field.

Read the rest of this entry »

Even before Bayer Healthcare agreed to change the label on its No. 1 selling birth control pills, Yaz and Yasmin, to include an elevated risk of blood clots and other health problems, a citizen’s right advocacy group placed the oral contraceptive on its “Do Not Use” list. The move by Public Citizen was in direct response to the mounting lawsuits filed against the company alleging the pills caused high potassium levels that can cause the heart to slow down and allow life-threatening blood clots to form.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bayer HealthCare has added new information on the labels of its blockbuster birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin to warn users that the risk of developing blood clots while taking the pills are similar to the risks with other oral contraceptives. The label change comes on the heels of hundreds of lawsuits filed both in the United States and Canada by women who say they were injured by Yaz or Yasmin but were not adequately warned of the risks associated with taking the pills. Bayer agreed to make the changes to the pills’ labels based on two large, multiyear studies of more than 120,000 women taking contraceptives in the U.S. and the U.K.

Read the rest of this entry »

Another contraceptive for women is finding its way into the courtroom, following in the footsteps of Bayer Healthcare’s Yaz pill and Johnson & Johnson’s Ortho Evra patch. This time Merck & Co. Inc., is facing a slew of lawsuits over the drug company’s Nuvaring. Plaintiffs claim that the “first and only, once-a-month vaginal birth control ring” is more dangerous than older and equally effective products on the market and has caused them to develop life-threatening blood clots.

Read the rest of this entry »

A survey commissioned by Bayer Healthcare of 1,000 women aged 20 to 40 found that 39 percent had slept with a boyfriend by their third date. But many didn’t tell even their closest friends. As many as 11 percent slept with their most recent partner on the first date, and another 28 percent say they gave in to their sexual wantings by the second or third date. Despite all this intimacy, the poll also found that more than half of the women surveyed – 56 percent – say that the person they are sleeping with is not the person they are most comfortable discussing contraception with. Ten percent said that even discussing birth control with their doctors made them uneasy.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bayer HealthCare is facing numerous lawsuits from women and their family members who say they were seriously injured or killed after taking the drug company’s blockbuster birth control pill, Yaz. Yet, Yaz remains the company’s top-selling pharmaceutical, generating a whopping $1.3 billion in the first three quarters of 2009, according to Medical Marketing & Media.

Read the rest of this entry »

The year Leah Mayfield died, Bayer HealthCare made $600 million on its popular birth control pill, Yaz. The drug, also known by the brand name Yasmin and the generic brand Ocella, was touted for the added benefit of stomping out the bothersome symptoms of severe premenstrual syndrome, or premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). It is the combination of ethinyl estradiol and the diuretic drospirenone that make Yaz different than other birth control pills. But that combination has proven deadly to numerous women who have taken it, including 20-year-old Leah.

Read the rest of this entry »

From April 2009 until July 2009, Adrienne Cechura of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, took Ocella, the generic band of the oral contraceptive known by the brand names Yaz or Yasmin. Yaz is the top-selling birth control pill in the United States, generating more than $600 million in sales. The pill offers a different formula than typical birth control pills. It contains drospirenone, a diuretic. The combination drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol is touted as a treatment for acne and premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD, a premenstrual condition marked by severe emotional and physical symptoms.

Read the rest of this entry »