The newest birth control litigation involves Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals who is the manufacturer of Yaz® and Yasmin® birth control pills, and Barr Laboratories and Teva Pharmaceuticals who are now the manufacturers of Ocella®, the generic form of Yasmin®. In November 2009, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) granted a petition filed by plaintiffs and created a Yaz®/Yasmin® multidistrict litigation (MDL). All pending cases and all future lawsuits filed in the federal court system will be centralized for discovery purposes in the Southern District of Illinois before Judge David R. Herndon.

Schlichter Bogard & Denton attorneys have secured key leadership positions in the MDL. Partner Roger Denton has been appointed the MDL's liaison counsel. Megan Vanderbeek is a member of the Discovery committee. Beth Flieger is a member of the Science and Expert committee and Law and Briefing committee. Kristine Kraft is a member of the Discovery committee and Science and Expert committee. Kristie Blunt is a member of the Law and Briefing committee.

There are hundreds of plaintiffs who have already filed lawsuits in the MDL. Some have predicted thousands of cases will be consolidated into the Southern District of Illinois by the time the pre-trial discovery phase wraps up.

New Study Confirms the Dangers of Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella

A study published in the British Medical Journal on October 25, 2011 confirms that Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella are at least twice more likely to cause dangerous blood clots than other types of birth control pills.

All birth control pills carry some risk of causing blood clots. However, recent studies have shown that Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella may carry a higher risk of causing blood clots than other birth control pills. Birth control pills contain two types of hormones, estrogen and progestin. It is drospirenone, the progestin in Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella, that researchers believe is to blame for the increased incidence of blood clots that occurs with those pills. The new study found that women who use birth control pills containing drospirenone are at least twice as likely to suffer from blood clots as women that use birth control pills that contain levonorgestrel, a different type of progestin. The study is available here: British Medical Journal. 

This study confirms previous concerns about these pills. In April 2011, the British Medical Journal published two studies that also found that Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocellla users suffer more blood clots that women who use other types of birth control pills. The new study was a large-scale study designed to confirm these previous findings.

The authors of these studies have concluded that Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella are “not as safe” as other birth control pills, and “should not be the first choice in oral contraception.” Furthermore, the authors found that “no clear evidence exists to show that the drospirenone pill confers benefits above those of other oral contraceptives in preventing pregnancy, treating acne, alleviating premenstrual syndrome, or avoiding weight gain.” In other words, the researchers found that Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella do not provide any benefits that other, safer, birth control pills do not have, and there is no medical reason to use Yaz, Yasmin, or Ocella instead of a safer birth control pill.

Warnings & Studies:
FDA
British Medical Journal

Yasmin® MDL in the news:
LawyersandSettlements.com
AboutLawSuits.com
Fox 59 WXIN Indianapolis

ABC News Investigation into Yaz:
ABC News
ABC Nightline
ABC 20/20