The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be holding a meeting with Scientific Advisors on December 8th to hopefully reach a final conclusion about the defectiveness of the birth control pill Yaz.
Yaz and other related pills were Bayer’s second-best-selling franchise last year at $1.6 billion in global sales.
The battle is with the hormone Drospirenone. This hormone is found in the newer forms of birth control drugs. It is known to increase potassium levels in the blood and is believed to be the cause of these dangerous blood clots.
Last Thursday Federal Health Scientists reported that Yaz and other newer birth control treatments containing Drospirenone, such as Beyaz, Safyral, Syeda, and Loryna appear to increase the risk of dangerous blood clots way more than older medications containing Levonorgestrel, which is the safer hormone.
The FDA released a new study which reviewed the medical history of more than 800,000 U.S women taking different forms of birth control between the years 2001 and 2007. It was found that women taking Yaz had a 75% greater chance of having dangerous blood clots than women taking older birth control drugs.
In Denmark, a similar study was given and delivered identical results.
If Drospirenone appears to be dangerous for young women, why then is it still being put in these claimed “new and improved” birth control drugs? Consumer Safety Advocates have criticized the FDA for approving newer, more expensive drugs when older and more generic drugs are much safer.
“At a certain point we have to ask why the FDA continues to approve drugs that are less safe and have no benefit compared to drugs already on the market,” said Dr. Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Center for Women and Families, a consumer group for women’s health issues. “With all these different birth control options, why take the most expensive one that can also kill you?”
The agency also reported higher complications in women using the Ortho Evra patch from Johnson & Johnson and the Nuvaring vaginal ring from Merck & Co. Inc. Those drugs combine estrogen, which is present in all birth control pills, with two other synthetic hormones launched in the last decade.
Drug companies have always tried to convince their market that safety is their priority, but study after study has shown that sometimes a small pill can bring to you dangerous side effects.
If you think that you or any loved one has been affected by taking Yaz or a similar birth control, contact the attorneys at V&B by simply using the contact forms on this site.
V&B can give you free information regarding Yaz and other dangerous drugs.
Category: Defective Products
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