Yasmin Lawsuit

Thousands of women across the nation have elected to file a Yasmin lawsuit to hold manufacturer Bayer liable for injuries suffered as a result of side effects, including Yaz blood clots and related complications. So many of these cases have been filed that the U. S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) and various state courts have consolidated each Yaz and Yasmin lawsuit into one of several jurisdictions, allowing for more efficient pre-trial processes.

First reports of Yasmin side effects

In May of 2001, the FDA approved the use of Yasmin as a new oral contraceptive and the first birth control pill to contain the unique progestin, “drospirenone.” (They approved a similar product, Yaz, in March 2006, and the generic Ocella was approved in 2008.) The new pill was touted as a novel innovation that gave women more choices in birth control. It was the first with drospirenone to be marketed in the U.S.

By April 2002, however—just a year after the release of Yasmin in the U. S.—the British Medical Journal reported that the Dutch College of General Practitioners recommended older second-generation birth control pills instead of Yasmin, because 40 cases of venous thrombosis (Yasmin blood clots in the veins) had been reported. Soon after, in February 2003, the same journal published a paper detailing additional reports of Yasmin side effects including thromboembolism.

Yasmin lawsuits follow increased reports of side effects

As more women complained of side effects, many began the process of filing a Yasmin lawsuit. Women blamed the manufacturer for failing to warn about the seriousness of Yasmin side effects. Though all birth control pills carry a risk of blood clots, those with drospirenone seemed to carry a higher risk.

In 2009, a study published in the British Medical Journal found that older contraceptives were safer than newer ones containing drospirenone. A second study published the same year in the same journal found that Yasmin or Yaz users had twice the risk of injury due to blood clots than users of older birth control pills.

In May of 2011, the FDA released a drug safety communication concerning side effects, namely, Yasmin blood clots, stating that they were looking into the safety of drospirenone. In September of that same year, they announced that they “remained concerned” after a review of two 2011 studies revealed that women taking drospirenone are two to three times more likely to develop Yaz blood clots than women using other contraceptives. In December, an independent panel recommended that the FDA require stricter warnings on the products.

Yasmin lawsuits increase across the country

Meanwhile, more women filed a Yasmin lawsuit. Federal cases were consolidated in the Southern District of Illinois in a Yaz/Yasmin MDL, and other cases were centralized in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New Jersey. Early bellwether trials were scheduled to take place in the MDL in 2012, but in January Judge Herndon ordered both sides to sit down for mediation. In late March 2012, a national law firm announced that Bayer Healthcare had agreed to Yaz/Yasmin settlements in about 70 cases.

Though thousands of cases have yet to go to trial, women involved in Yasmin lawsuits have good reason to hope for additional settlements.