The family of a 15-year-old North Carolina girl who was taking the birth control pill Yasmin to treat her acne and then died of a pulmonary embolism, are suing the drug’s maker Bayer, claiming the company did not adequately warn users of the potentially deadly health risks associated with its oral contraceptive.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada have announced they are reviewing studies on the health risks associated with the birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin, as well as their generic equivalents. An early review of studies comparing oral contraceptives with the hormone drospirenone, such as Yaz and Yasmin, with pills containing another type of progestin, show that drospirenone-containing pills increase women’s risk for blood clots. The studies were published in a recent issue of the British Medical Journal.
News of lawsuits filed by women (or the surviving relatives for those who are deceased) who suffered blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, gallbladder damage, and sudden death, after taking the popular birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin, might leave some young women unfazed. After all, despite statistics, the younger generation often feels invincible. But some women are heeding the warnings that hormone contraceptive products have caused serious injury and death, and they are asking for safer, more natural alternatives for birth control.
Sarah Haskins of Target Women, a recurring segment on Current TV’s weekly television show, infoMania, is known to some for her take on the often-ridiculous way the media reaches out to women. In this episode she tackles birth control commercials from Seasonique, Yaz and NuvaRing.
Members of the Oral Contraceptive Over-the-Counter Working Group are advocating to – you guessed it – make birth control pills available for women without a prescription. But it is in the best interest for women when they can carry serious and even life-threatening risks?
District Judge David Herndon is ordering sales representatives who pushed the oral contraceptives Yasmin, Yaz, Ocella and Gianvi to produce all their files and communications for national litigation. The order covers “all written materials, video and/or audio tapes” and includes training materials, e-mails, voice mail transcripts, summaries of meetings, incentive and goal plans, and all communications between representatives and managers. Herndon also ordered Bayer Health Care Pharmaceuticals, Bayer Schering Pharma, Barr Laboratories, and Teva Pharmaceuticals to produce records from their facilities.
Dawn Varrechio, a mother of four, was shocked to discover that her breathing problems were due to blood clots in both of her lungs. But she became angry when she found out her birth control pills were the culprit. “It’s scary to think that at 35, you could be gone, like that quickly,” she told CBS3 News.
As Bayer HealthCare begins defending itself against a flurry of lawsuits citing health problems over its blockbuster birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin, the drug company announced it has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on a new oral contraceptive. Bayer’s Natazia combines the hormones estrogen and progestin in doses that adjust four times throughout a women’s menstruation cycle. Natazia is the first birth control pill to use the four-phase dosing protocol with the added benefit of controlling irregular bleeding better than other pills.
