Bayer isn’t backing down. The pharmaceutical giant that is making billions off sales of it’s popular birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin, says two new studies that suggest the company’s oral contraceptives put women at greater risk for blood clots than older generation pills, are flawed.
Women who use birth control pills are at greater risk for developing blood clots during the first six months of oral contraceptive use, and they are at even greater risk when first starting the pill and when restarting the same pill or a different pill after a four-week or greater break.
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.
A new ad format developed by Google for prescription drugs attaches a fixed link to sponsored results. When clicked, the link takes the browser to a page announcing the drug’s side effects, risks, and other important information, much the same way as it is printed on the drug label or inside the product’s packaging. Bayer was the first company to sign up for the new format, which it now uses for its beleaguered birth control pill Yaz.
