Bayer Pharmaceutical have come under fire from a number of parties taking personal injury cases against the firm because of the firms failure to make consumers aware of the health risks their oral contraceptives, Yaz and Yasmin, present.
Over 100 personal injury cases have been taken against the pharmaceutical company in the US, including a group of 8 women from Toronto and stage actress, Brenda Hamilton who is an understudy for the Broadway musical "Wicked", who suffered a stroke after taking the pill.
Some of the injuries which plaintiffs in the personal injury cases have suffered include:
-Blood Clots
-Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)
-Pulmonary Embolism (PE)
-Stroke
-Cerebrovascular Accidents (CVA)
-Heart Attack
-Myocardial Infarction
-Gallbladder Disease / Injury (cholecystitis)
-Gallbladder Removal (cholecystectomy)
-Kidney Failure or Renal Failure
-Pancreatitis
-Death
In Switzerland, 3 reports of serious injuries (one death) have been linked to the contraceptive pill and there has been calls for the product to be banned outright.
All of the personal injury cases brought against the firm say that Bayer had downplayed the serious side effects of their products, failed to carry out proper research on the product before releasing the product into the market and failed to warn consumers about the potential serious health risks of taking the product.
The Yaz and Yasmin contraceptive pills contain drospirenone, a synthetic progestin which has been linked to approximately 25,000 cases of adverse side effects from use and a number of deaths.
The company has so far made $1.5 billion from the Yasmin birth control pill but faces paying out huge compensation with all of these personal injury cases to be settled.