Yaz and Yasmin Lawsuits Filed in Pennsylvania State Court

Four new Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits have been filed in Pennsylvania state court against Bayer, alleging that the company failed to warn consumers that the popular birth control pills increase the risk of a variety of health problems.

The complaints were filed on July 29 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on behalf of plaintiffs Rae Anne Bailor, Felicia R. Hill, and couples Erin and Daniel Shae, and Heather and Chris Karabin. The plaintiffs allege that they suffered a variety of ailments after taking the birth control pills, including pulmonary embolisms and health complications that required gallbladder removal for two of the plaintiffs.

The Yasmin and Yaz lawsuits charge Bayer with fraud, fraudulent concealment, strict liability, breach of warranty, negligence, negligent failure to warn, loss of consortium and negligent misrepresentation.

Yaz and Yasmin are combined oral contraceptives containing ethinyl estradiol and drospirenone. Drosperinone is a new type of progestin that is not used in any other birth control pill. It can cause an increase in potassium levels, potentially leading to a condition known as hyperkalemia, which can disrupt heart rhythms and can potentially be fatal.

A number of similar lawsuits are pending in state and federal courts throughout the country alleging that Bayer failed to warn about potential Yasmin and Yaz health problems, including an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, gallbladder disease, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolisms, cardiac arrhythmias, and sudden death.

The FDA has issued three warnings that advertisements and marketing for the birth control pills contained false and misleading statements. FDA warning letters indicated that Yaz ads made exaggerated claims about the drug’s benefits, and downplayed or did not mention important side effects. As a result of pressure from the FDA and states attorneys from several states, Bayer agreed to spend $20 million on a corrective advertising campaign.

The plaintiffs in the Pennsylvania cases are seeking to have the state court cases consolidated before one judge. A similar motion was filed last week to consolidate over 30 federal lawsuits over Yaz and Yasmin filed in different districts throughout the United States. The plaintiffs in federal court asked the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to consolidate and centralize all Yasmin and Yaz lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio for coordinated pretrial proceedings in an MDL, or Multidistrict Litigation.