FDA Study Shows Yaz Blood Clot Side Effect Danger

I have covered the side effects and dangers of Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella and Beyaz for nearly two years.

Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella, and Beyaz are popular birth control pills containing the artificial progestin drospirenone. The combination of estrogen and drospirenone found in these birth control pills has been linked to serious side effects including blood clots, heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and gallbladder disease.

Now the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said preliminary results from a massive study of 800,000 women show a marked increase in the risk of blood clots for women using the drospirenone-containing birth control pills.

While the FDA study is new, warnings about the risks of the birth control pills are not. A year after Yasmin’s approval, Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer advocacy group, began warning of the drug’s dangers and placed Yasmin on its list of "Do Not Use Pills."

Indeed, the FDA previously issued warning letters in 2003, 2008, and 2009 regarding the serious side effects of Yaz and Yasmin:

• 2003 FDA Yasmin / Yaz Warning Letter
• 2008 FDA Yasmin / Yaz Warning Letter
• 2009 FDA Yasmin / Yaz Warning Letter

Thousands of women have been harmed by side effects of Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella, and Beyaz. Several thousand Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits have been combined in Multi-District Litigation (MDL) pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. One of our team members, Mark Neimeyer, has been selected as co-lead counsel for these Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits.

An MDL is similar to a class action in that a large number of cases are grouped together. However, in an MDL, each individual plaintiff maintains her own claim.

For MDLs like Yaz, the process begins when users of the drug begin experiencing dangerous side effects. As these users become injured from this dangerous drug, they begin filing lawsuits across the country. Because these lawsuits each involve similar claims (defective and dangerous drug) and similar injuries (dangerous side effects including heart attack and stroke), the federal court will consolidate all of the claims in front of one judge.

Once the MDL court has been established, all new cases involving the same drug (Yaz or Yasmin) will be transferred to the MDL court. The idea is to have a small number of experienced attorneys handle the pre-trial proceedings for all MDL claimants.

Read More:

• FDA Flags Concern on Birth-Control Pill [Jennifer Corbett Dooren at WSJ]
• Yaz and newer birth control pills could raise risk of blood clots, FDA says [Susan Todd at the New Jersey Star-Ledger]
• Newer Contraceptive Pills Could Raise Clot Risk, FDA Warns [Amanda Gardner at Health Day]
• FDA Still Reviewing Clot Risk for Birth Control Pills [John Gever at MedPage Today]

[More on Yaz Side Effect Dangers]

(c) Copyright 2011 Brett A. Emison