The U.S. District Court Judge David R. Herndon has decided to issue an order that focuses on the side effects linked to a generic version of the controversial birth control pill Yaz called Ocella. The lawsuit focuses on generic drug makers Teva and Barr Labs.
Yaz, Yasmin and generic versions are the subject of more than 10,000 lawsuits over the side effects linked to the pills. That list keeps growing every week. So many lawsuits have been filed that MDLs have been erected in various states to help speed the discovery process. Judge David R. Herndon oversees some of these MDLs. The federal judge that is presiding over the Teva and Barr MDL has convinced both manufacturers to “service of process (the procedure used to give legal notice) that require the summons to be sent to designated representatives within 90 days for any previously filed claims, and within 60 days after any future complaints are added to the Yaz and Yasmin MDL.”
The subject of all of these lawsuits over Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella are the side effects, which include strokes, heart attacks, gallbladder disease, kidney stones and blood clots that can lead to pulmonary embolisms and deep vein thrombosis. The cause of all of these side effects linked to Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella is the drug’s main active ingredient, drospirenone. Drospirenone is a fourth generation synthetic progestin. The drospirenone was also the subject of numerous safety studies and even a panel advisory meeting held by the FDA to determine if the pills should be removed from the market. For some reason, the FDA eventually recommended that Yaz enforce stricter warning labels but still allowed the pills to be sold. That decision led to much controversy after it was found that four of the panel members had financial ties to Bayer, the maker of brand name pills.
