Yasmin Lawsuit Settlement Update

Richmond, VAAlthough Bayer is currently settling thousands of Yasmin lawsuits, Yaz and Yasmin attorneys say it isn't too late to file a Yasmin claim. As of April 26, the drug company says it has settled 651 cases and thousands more are pending.

Yasmin attorneys advise claimants to contact their attorney if they haven't yet been notified about a possible settlement with their case. Law firms with the largest amount of cases are being contacted first.

In its Stockholders' Newsletter for the first quarter, Bayer said it has paid $142 million in the settlements, averaging about $218,000 a case. On April 13, the drug manufacturer agreed to pay about $110 million to settle the first 500 Yasmin lawsuits in the US, according to Bloomberg News. Pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) cases are being settled and at this point, the company is not considering settlement of any gallbladder cases. By April 18, the company said it faced 11,900 Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits involving approximately 14,000 plaintiffs.

However, Bayer is not admitting any wrongdoing in any of the settlements, even though in early April the FDA ordered Bayer and other contraceptive makers to include stronger blood-clot warnings on their products. Researchers say that birth control pills containing drospirenone may triple the risk for blood clots.

Richard Vosser, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst, predicts that Bayer may have to pay more than $2.65 billion to resolve all the venous clot injury cases over its birth control pills, which may include all contraceptives containing the synthetic hormone drospirenone.

Yasmin and Yaz litigation, including about 50 wrongful death lawsuits filed between 2004 and 2008, has plagued Bayer since 2009. The suits claim that Bayer did not properly inform women of the risks involved, and it marketed Yasmin and Yaz for off-label uses, to treat acne, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and heavy menstrual bleeding.

Despite these huge payouts, Bayer reported that sales and profits in the first quarter were higher than analysts' estimates. And it would appear that Bayer does have deep pockets. Sales of its contraceptives amounted to $1.58 billion in 2010 alone.