Women taking pills containing the hormone drospirenone were 74 percent more likely to experience clots than those on low- estrogen pills, according to the
latest Food and Drug Administration report.
There is an FDA conference in December that is going to examine and address the health risks
with birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin. Thousands of patients have already filed a Yaz or Yasmin lawsuits against pharmaceutical manufacturer Bayer Corporation. The injured plaintiffs claim that the drugmaker aggressively highlighted the birth control pills benefits while minimizing the serious side effects such as Yaz deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, stroke and death.
FDA Investigates Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella Increased Blood Clots Side Effects
The FDA has been investigating the health risks associated with Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella. In 2011, the FDA has issue two warnings about the birth control pills, indicating that the national health agency “remains concerned” about the increased risk of blood clots and other potentially life-threatening side effects associated with the birth control pills.
Yaz and its predecessor, Yasmin and the generic version, Ocella, all contain a synthetic female sex hormone known as drospirenone. Medical studies show that all birth control pills have an increased risk of blood clots, but the risk is even greater with drospirenone-containing pills such as Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella.
The FDA is set to hold a meeting with the Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee on December 8 to comb through the mass of “conflicting” data concerning Yasmin, Yaz and Ocella blood clots.
The recommendations of that FDA meeting could have profound implications and affect the outcome of the Yaz lawsuits. The FDA may revise the drug labels again (revised in 2010 and 2011), or issue stricter warnings regarding the birth control bills or may even ban the pills from the market altogether due to the dangers of Yaz blood clots. The last scenario is highly unlikely.
