Officials with pharmaceutical giant Bayer said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing that they expect more lawsuits over the company’s Yasmin line of birth control pills, Bloomberg reports. More than 11,000 lawsuits have already been filed over injuries allegedly caused by the drugs.
Last week, the company announced a settlement for about 500 lawsuits related to the contraceptives, which were the first batch of suits scheduled to go to trial. Bloomberg reports the settlement amount at about $110 million, or an average of about $220,000 a case.
According to the Bloomberg report, Bayer officials mentioned the expectation of additional lawsuits in a Feb. 28 SEC filing. The filing also indicated that 70 cases had settled to date.
The lawsuits, which have been coming in since 2009, allege that the Yasmin line of pills caused blood clots that led to at least 50 fatalities from 2004 to 2008. Plaintiffs claim that Bayer tried to market the contraceptive for unapproved uses and misled women about the health risks.
The pills in question include Yasmin, Yaz, Beyaz and Ocella.
See the report here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-13/bayer-said-to-pay-110-million-in-yaz-birth-control-cases.html