Yaz Settlement Negotiations Ordered as First Trial in MDL Delayed

The federal judge presiding over thousands of Yaz lawsuits and Yasmin lawsuits has delayed the first trial scheduled to begin next week, ordering the parties to meet with a special mediator in an attempt to negotiate a settlement for the litigation. 

The first Yaz trial was expected to begin on January 9, involving a plaintiff who suffered a pulmonary embolism after taking the birth control pill.

In an order issued December 31, Judge Herndon indefinitely continued the start of that case and ordered the parties to engage in Yaz settlement negotiations.

Judge Herndon determined that the best interests of the litigation will be better served by delaying the start of the bellwether trial, which was designed to help the parties gauge how juries are likely to respond to evidence that will be presented in many of the cases.

Instead, Professor Stephen Saltzburg of George Washington School of Law was appointed to serve as Special Master for purposes of mediating the entire litigation. The leadership teams for the plaintiffs and Bayer were ordered to meet with Professor Saltzburg and to negotiate in good faith.

Over 10,000 women have filed a lawsuit against Bayer alleging that they suffered injuries as a result of the drug maker’s failure to adequately warn about the side effects of Yaz, Yasmin and other drosperinone-based birth control pills made by Bayer.

Drospirenone is a newer type of progestin that is used in combination oral contraceptives that also include estrogen. It was originally introduced by Berlex Laboratories in Yasmin. Once Berlex was acquired by Bayer Healthcare an updated version of Yasmin was introduced called Yaz. More recently, Bayer introduced a third version, marketed as Beyaz, which includes a folate supplement. Generic versions of Yaz and Yasmin are also now available from other manufacturers. Generic versions of Yaz and Yasmin include Ocella, Gianvi, Loryna, Safyral, Syeda and Zarah.

Several studies have suggested that women using Yaz face an increased risk of suffering a blood clot, stroke, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis and sudden death.

The FDA recently released a report that suggested drospirenone-based birth control pills may increase the risk of blood clots by 75% over older birth control pills. They also doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes in users who were new to birth control, with some health problems appearing in less than three months after women started to take the pills.

A panel of FDA advisors which met in early December called for stricter label warnings on Yaz and Yasmin, but stopped short of recommending a Yaz recall.

All federal Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits have been consolidated as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation, which is centralized before Judge Herndon in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

Saltzburg was recently the mediator that helped reach settlements in thousands of lawsuits over the side effects of Seroquel; an antipsychotic by AstraZeneca which many say causes diabetes and weight gain. In July, AstraZeneca reported it had reached settlements in more than 28,000 of those claims.