The Bayer’s Yaz contraceptive was marketed on television to help clear up mild acne, relieve pre menstrual irritability and prevent pregnancy.
In May 2011, Joan Cummins in the USA filed a law suit against Bayer Healthcare, the drug company that sell Yaz, alleging that the birth control caused her 18 year old daughter’s death nearly a year ago. Her daughter died after a blood clot lodged in her lung causing her to go into cardiac arrest as she made her way to class at Elon University in North Carolina.
Cummins and thousands of others are alleging that Bayer did not provide adequate warnings to the health risks associated with Yaz, and they are blaming the drug for causing blood clots, heart attacks, strokes and in some cases sudden death.
Yaz and its predecessor, Yasmin, are part of a group of oral contraceptives, including widely used generics such as Ocella that contain a combination of the oestrogen ethinyl estradiol and drospirenone, a synthetic hormone.
Both drugs were made by Berlex Labs which was acquired in 2006 by Bayer Healthcare, the USA division of Bayer AG, a German pharmaceutical company. The Food and Drug Administration approved Yasmin in 2001, and five years later they allowed Berlex to begin selling Yaz, another version of the drugs.
The two pills quickly became top sellers generating hundreds of millions of annual sales for Bayer. Last year sales of Yaz reached $361 million.
In June 2011, FDA regulators acknowledged new evidence that raised more questions of the safety of Yaz and birth control pills likely, including the top selling generic Ocella. The agency posted a notice on its website saying it was aware of studies recently published in the British Medical Journal that showed oral contraceptives containing drospirenone were two to three times more likely to cause blood clots than other birth control pills.
If you have taken these birth control pills and have suffered adverse affects you may be entitled to claim compensation. To get further information in relation to your rights please contact Liam Moloney, Solicitor, at 045 898000 or simply log onto our website at www.moloneysolicitors.ie for further information and to download a claim form.
