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Lawsuits seek compensation for side effects of birth controlMonday, December 21, 2009 at 02:29 PM Last week, Bayer was named in several federal lawsuits filed in Pittsburgh which claimed its birth control products, YAZ and Yasmin cause potentially-deadly side effects.
According to court documents, the new cases allege fraud, civil conspiracy and commercial bribery, specifically indicating Bayer made "false representations" about the safety of their product. One lawsuit, which was filed by a Maryland woman who began taking Yasmin in January 2007 claimed the product caused pneumonia and pulmonary embolism, which occurs when an artery in the lung is blocked by a substance traveling through the bloodstream, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. Each of the six civil complaints filed last week seek punitive and compensatory damages totaling $150,000. Nationally, more than 150 complaints have now targeted Bayer for the marketing of its contraceptives. Bayer spokesperson Bryan Iams told the news source that "the complaints we have reviewed so far pertain to side effects that are warned about in the labeling of all contraceptives, including ours." The Food and Drug Administration approved Yasmin and YAZ for marketing in 2001 and 2006, respectively. In 2008, Bayer agreed to run a $20 million advertising campaigning clarifying the risks related to taking its contraceptives. Source: |