Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog
The YAZ birth control pill, manufactured and marketed by Bayer Pharmaceuticals has been linked to a number of serious, life-threatening side effects. Yaz, which is nearly identical to Yasmin birth control, is a newer type of oral contraceptive sold by Bayer. It has been aggressively marketed without adequate warnings about potentially life-threatening side effects.
Yaz, a birth control pill linked to blood clots, heart attacks and strokes, has been the subject of a misleading marketing campaign.
Deceptive Yaz commercials prompted the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to issue Bayer a warning letter, and the company was forced to correct its false advertising.
Bayer’s Yaz campaign not only made false claims about the benefits of the drug, it also downplayed the serious side effects – including life-threatening blood clots – known to be associated with Yaz. Because of Bayer’s false advertising, millions of women took Yaz without being fully aware of the drug’s health risks.
Since 2004, there have been over 50 deaths reported to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) of women who were taking YAZ. Some of the deaths associated with women taking YAZ included cardiac arrhythmia, cardiac arrest, intracardiac thrombus (blood clots in the heart), pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs), and stroke.
Yaz was first marketed by Bayer Corp. in 2006. In the U.S, it is only approved for the following:
Pregnancy prevention
The treatment of the emotional and physical symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).
Yaz is not approved as a treatment for PMS.
The treatment of moderate acne in women who desire an oral contraceptive for birth control.
In October 2008, the FDA issued a warning letter to Bayer over the content of two Yaz TV commercials the agency said were misleading. One of the commercials featured the song “Good Bye to You”. Women were seen releasing balloons labeled with PMS-like symptoms, including “irritability,” “moodiness” and “bloating.” The commercial suggested women were saying “goodbye” to their symptoms and were now symptom-free because of YAZ.
In the second spot, women were heard and seen singing “We’re not gonna take it” and kicking, punching and pushing balloons labeled with the same type of symptoms, usually associated with PMS. The FDA said that the Bayer TV ads implied that Yaz was approved to treat the symptoms of PMS. Drug makers are legally prohibited from promoting unapproved uses of medications.
The FDA warning letter cited other problems with the YAZ TV commercials. For one thing, the agency said that both ads left the impression that Yaz is approved as a treatment for acne of all severities when this is not the case. Yaz is only approved to treat moderate acne. Finally, the FDA criticized the ads for being produced in such a way that viewers might miss important side effect information, such as an association with serious blood clots.
Following the issuance of the FDA warning letter, the attorneys general of 27 states took legal action against Bayer for the Yaz TV commercials. Bayer soon agreed to stop running the deceptive Yaz commercials, and also agreed to commit $20 million on a new advertising campaign dedicated to correcting false claims about Yaz. Bayer also agreed to submit all Yaz ads for federal screening before they appear.
Unfortunately, by the time the corrective Yaz campaign began running in January 2009, the drug was already one of the most popular birth control pills on the market.
In the summer of 2009, several lawsuits were filed by women who claimed Yaz made them ill. They allege Bayer overstated the benefits of Yaz and failed to warn that it could put women at risk of serious injury. It is expected that many such Yaz lawsuits will be filed in the future.
Evidence is growing that Yaz carries serious health risks. Yaz contains a synthetic type of progestin called drospirenone. According to the FDA, drospirenone can lead to hyperkalemia, a condition caused by excessive amounts of potassium in the blood, in high risk patients. This condition may result in potentially serious heart and health problems.
Women involved in Yaz lawsuits have claimed that they suffered from a variety of serious ailments. These include deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and stroke. Yaz has also allegedly been associated with heart attacks and deaths in young women.
Bayer must be held accountable for the false claims it made about Yaz. If you or someone you love took Yaz because you believed Bayer’s marketing campaign, and suffered from a blood clot, heart attack or stroke, you have valuable legal rights.
If you or a family member has been personally injured because of the fault of someone else: by the use of dangerous and defective drugs, bad products, or toxic injury etc then please contact the Fort Worth Texas Defective Drugs Product Liability Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik. For a no obligation, free case analysis, please call 817-255-4001 or Contact Me Online.
The Dr. Shezad Malik Law is currently evaluating and accepting Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella Side Effect cases.
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