At this point you probably know that Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella are related birth control pills, but do you know how they’re related? Here’s a little background info we’ve picked up in our research.
Yasmin was originally developed in 2001 by a German pharmaceutical company called Berlex Laboratories. Yasmin was unique in that it contained a new type of hormone known as drospirenone, or “drsp.” The same drsp hormone was used by Berlex again when it developed the birth control Yaz several years later.
Yaz hit the U.S. market in 2006 and shortly thereafter Bayer Healthcare bought Berlex, acquiring the Yaz and Yasmin birth control pills in the process. As reported by Natasha Singer in an article in the New York Times, Bayer marketed Yaz as a different kind of birth control and touted it as effective not only in preventing pregnancy but also as a treatment for PMDD (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder) and moderate acne. Bayer advertised Yaz as a way to “Go Beyond Birth Control with Yaz” and promoted the new pill as a quality of life medication.
Yaz and Yasmin are two of Bayer’s best selling medications and, according to Ms Singer’s article, the company earned $1.8 billion on the successful positioning of Yaz and Yasmin in the last year alone.
In July 2008, another drug manufacturer, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., jumped in on the action when it released a generic version of Yasmin called Ocella, which also contains the drsp hormone.