Bayer AG, Germany’s largest drugmaker, was sued by two Pennsylvania pension funds and accused of misrepresenting the safety and effectiveness of the Yaz contraceptive to boost sales. Bayer unlawfully promoted the drug from March 2006 to March 2009 by concealing side effects including blood clots, heart attacks and pulmonary embolisms,…
The New York Times reported September 25 on the controversy surrounding Yaz and Yasmin, two popular birth control pills (BCPs). The controversy is a result of the marketing and manufacturing processes identified by the Food and Drug Administration. The major concern is whether these medications increase the risk of blood…
Several lawsuits filed on behalf of women who were injured or killed by the popular birth control drugs Yaz and Yasmin will be consolidated into a multidistrict litigation group in the Southern District of Illinois, a federal judicial panel has ruled. A total of 32 federal lawsuits have been filed…
The Supreme Court of New Jersey backed a $4.5 million award to the widow of a man who suffered heart problems after using Merck’s painkiller Vioxx, ending of the last unresolved lawsuits related to the drug. The court dismissed Merck’s appeal and upheld the award in the case McDarby v.…
The parents of an 18-year-old suburban Boca Raton cheerleader who died last year after breast augmentation surgery called for a ban on the use of general anesthesia at outpatient surgical centers. Such centers are not equipped to deal with emergencies such as the one that ultimately killed their daughter Stephanie,…
Asbestos lawsuits are filed by plaintiffs who have suffered as the result of asbestos-related illness. Plaintiffs in asbestos lawsuits can include the victims of asbestos exposure, or their families or loved ones. Defendants against asbestos lawsuits are those parties considered responsible for the asbestos exposure. In the past, targets of…
A new Yaz lawsuit was filed this week against Bayer Pharmaceuticals by a woman who alleges the popular birth control pill caused her to suffer pulmonary emboli and deep vein thrombosis (DVT), leaving her with permanent injuries. Anna Butler of Kansas filed the product liability lawsuit in the U.S. District…
A huge fire last year at a sugar refinery near Savannah, Ga., that killed 14 workers and injured 36 more was “entirely preventable,” a federal official said Thursday as the results of an investigation into the fire’s causes were released. The owner of the plant, the Imperial Sugar Company, and…
The bankruptcy court judge overseeing certain Chrysler assets has approved a $24 million settlement in the death of a California longshoreman run over by a Dodge pickup. The settlement comes more than two years after a Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded damages of more than $55 million to the…
YAZ (3 mg drospirenone/20 mcg ethinyl estradiol) is an oral contraceptive (OC) which is the first pill to combine 20 mcg of ethinyl estradiol (EE) with the so-called “fourth generation” progestin drospirenone (DRSP). YAZ was approved by the FDA in March 2006. A study called the International Active Surveillance Study…