It’s been more than five years since the The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first warned that Bayer was exaggerating the benefits and minimizing the risks associated with the synthetic hormone drospirenone found in the leading birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin. Now the FDA is taking a closer look at studies that suggest that Yaz and Yasmin may be riskier than other birth control pills.
On May 31st, 2011 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety alert entitled “Birth Control Pills Containing Drospirenone: Possible Increased Risk of Blood Clots.” The FDA safety alert concerns drospirenone, the active ingredient in Yaz and Yasmin birth control pills. Studies have indicated that the blood clot risks associated with products containing drospirenone, such as Yaz and Yasmin, may be higher than birth control pills containing a different progestin.
The FDA report states:
FDA is aware of two newly published studies that evaluated the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in women who use birth control pills that contain drospirenone… These two new studies reported that there is a greater risk of VTE associated with birth control pills that contain drospirenone. This risk is reported to be up to 2 to 3 times greater than the risk of VTE associated with using levonorgestrel-containing pills.
This begs the question, why would a woman take a pill with a greater risk if a safer equivalent was readily available? Logically, they wouldn’t. In this case, women were never warned that the birth control pills they were taking had a higher risk than other pills on the market.
Thousands of women from across the country have filed cases against Bayer, the manufacturer of Yaz and Yasmin. Over the past couple of years, we have talked first hand to hundreds of women who experienced blood clots while taking Yaz or Yasmin. Women of all ages have called us to share their stories about suffering clot-related injuries such as strokes, pulmonary embolisms, or deep vein thrombosis, while taking Yaz or Yasmin. While each story is unique, there is a common theme when it comes to their questions: “Would I have been safer on a different pill?” and “Why would I take Yaz if I knew that other birth control pills were less risky?”
