It appears to have been a week of bad news for the maker of the birth control drugs Yasmin and Yaz as Bayer AG announced in its most recent financial report that it had agreed to pay a combined $750 million thus far to settle thousands of claims regarding its birth control drugs causing blood clots.
Adding insult to injury, a new study has found increased risk of blood clots with the use of birth control pills such as Yaz and Yasmin. According to the most recent study published in the journal Contraception, women who take oral contraceptives containing the synthetic hormone drospirenone are more likely to suffer from potentially fatal blood-clotting complications compared to those who were taking another type birth control.
Researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research gathered data on 573,680 women between the ages of 10 and 55 between 2001 and 2007. The study looked at women who were new users of combined hormonal contraceptives (CHCs), and compared the rate of blood clot-related events among women who did or did not take contraceptives containing drospirenone. Overall, the study found that women who took birth control pills containing drospirenone were 77% more likely to experience blood clot-related conditions such as deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.
Deep vein thrombosis is when a blood clot becomes lodged in the veins of the leg; this can lead to a pulmonary embolism when part of the clot breaks away and travels to blood vessels in the lungs. The study also found that women who take birth control pills containing drospirenone had double the risk of suffering a blockage in their arteries.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the latest financial report from Bayer indicates the company has put aside an additional $262.5 million to settle Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits over blood clots. This follows a Bloomberg report over the summer that found that Bayer had reserved $610 million to settle cases, leading to an average of nearly $212,000 per case.
Yaz and Yasmin were among the most commonly named drugs in personal injury lawsuits last year, according to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices’ QuarterWatch Report; there were over 8,300 claims involving the medications in 2011 alone. Given the number of problems it’s perhaps not a surprise that the company is facing some 12,000 lawsuits alleging Yaz or Yasmin caused blood clots, gallbladder damage and other injuries.
If you or someone you know have been injured by a defective product and you would like to discuss your case with an attorney, please contact the Georgia product liability litigation attorneys at Pope McGlamry P.C. today to schedule a free consultation.
Source: “Recent combined hormonal contraceptives (CHCs) and the risk of thromboembolism and other cardiovascular events in new users,” by, published at ContraceptionJournal.com.
