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A Louisiana woman is suing Bayer Corporation claiming the company’s top-selling birth control pill Yaz caused her to develop life-threatening blood clots in her lungs. Heather Gillespie claims that the makers of the oral contraceptive, also known as Yasmin and the generic ocella, failed to warn her of the risks associated with taking the pills. She is seeking damages.
Things are getting even uglier between two pharmaceutical companies whose oral contraceptives will soon go head-to-head in America. First, Bayer announced it was suing Teva Pharmaceutical Industries for prematurely pushing Gianvi, its generic version of Bayer’s blockbuster birth control pill Yaz, also known as Yasmin.
Holly Grigg-Spall, columnist for the UK’s The Independent, says the revolutionary birth control pill had nothing to do with turning her into a women’s health writer and activist. In fact, it gave her something to complain about.
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.
Next month the birth control pill celebrates its 50th birthday in the United States. Since then, women’s choices in contraceptives have branched out from pills to patches and implants and injections and so on. Despite the many options now available, there are about 3.1 million unplanned pregnancies each year. Some speculate that women just don’t feel safe taking birth control.
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.
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.
Swissmedic, the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, has closed its formal investigation into contraceptives containing drospirenone, following the death of one young woman and of another woman who is now severely disabled. The agency says that although the risk of thrombosis, or blood clots, is higher with this generation of contraceptives, the risk remains “within reasonable limits.” Swissmedic says the drug will remain on the market there but the drugs are required to have updated information on their label to reflect an increased risk of serious injury.
An estimated 20 million Americans have gallbladder disease, a condition in which the bile in the gallbladder becomes concentrated and thickens. The condition most often affects people over 60 years of age, says Dr. Ronald Hoffman, an active clinician, author, radio host and lecturer. However, many young women have developed the condition, thanks to their oral contraceptive.
Drug company Bayer is facing more than 1,100 lawsuits alleging its popular birth control pill Yaz causes life-threatening blood clots. According to the pharmaceutical company’s 2009 annual report, 129 new suits were filed in November 2009 alone. Many suits have been consolidated into federal multi-district litigation, fueling speculation that more lawsuits are on the way.
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