Yaz Side Effects Lawsuit Transferred to MDL

According to allegations in a Yaz side effects lawsuit filed by Whitney Stowe, while using the birth control, the plaintiff suffered a pulmonary embolism, resulting in hospitalization and other related injuries. Ms. Stowe filed her complaint in the U.S. District Court of Wyoming (Casper) on May 16, 2013, but her case was approved for transfer to multidistrict litigation (MDL) in Illinois federal court, where Bayer is facing thousands of Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits involving blood clot related injuries. In addition to Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Barr Laboraties, Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. are listed as defendants in the case.

Yaz side effects lawsuit joins consolidated MDL proceedings

Court documents state that plaintiff Whitney Stowe brings this action for alleged damages associated with her use of Yaz/BeYaz/Yasmin and its generic equivalents Ocella/Gianvi (ethinyl and drospirenone), an oral contraceptive designed, manufactured, marketed and sold by the defendants. Unlike other birth control pills on the market, Yaz and Yasmin are made with a fourth generation progestin called drospirenone. This component was never before marketed to U.S. women prior to the launch of Yasmin in 2001 and its successors Yaz and BeYaz (approved in 2006 and 2010, respectively). While all combined oral contraceptives carry some added risk for the development of blood clots, drospirenone was new and had little data to back up its safety profile.

During its brief stint on the market, both Yaz and Yasmin have been linked to more than 50 reports of death, all attributed to their dangerous blood clotting side effects. Numerous clinical studies have demonstrated a causal link between Yaz and dangerous blood clots, and in one 2009 report by the British Medical Journal, researchers stated that “oral contraceptives with . . . drospirenone were associated with a significantly higher risk of venous thrombosis than oral contraceptives with levonogesterel.”

Whitney Stowe, like the thousands of other women who’ve taken legal action against Bayer, argues the company failed to warn of Yaz and pulmonary embolism risk, especially when the manufacturer has purportedly known that its popular pills were associated with venous thrombosis events.

Bayer over-promoted its birth control pills

Her Yaz side effects lawsuit further contends that despite overwhelming scientific evidence pointing to Yaz and Yasmin’s inherent dangers, the defendants chose to ignore these risks and urged women to use their pills as they were presented as a safer alternative in aggressive marketing campaigns. In fact, the FDA deemed the defendant’s over-promotion was so blatant that it required Bayer to run television ads to correct any misleading commercials regarding acne and premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

Stowe says both she and her health care provider relied on Bayer’s claims when she decided to take Yaz and Yasmin, and in May of 2012 was told by her doctor that nothing else could have caused her pulmonary embolism other than her exposure to the pills. As a direct result of the actions and inactions of the defendants, the plaintiff claims that she has experienced and will continue to incur physical and mental pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.

Her complaint adopts multiple counts including fraud, negligence, strict liability, breach of implied and express warranties. On top of compensatory damages, the plaintiff is also demanding punitive damages to punish Bayer for the company’s alleged disregard for public health and safety.