As Bayer Pharmaceuticals launches another birth control pill known as Natazia, controversy continues over its top-selling pill, Yaz. National Public Radio reported today about the risks of oral contraceptives, highlighting the story of Katie Anderson, a teenage girl who suffered a pulmonary embolism and blood clot in her leg after taking Yaz. NPR reported that Katie, like many other women, wanted to take Yaz because of all the benefits Bayer promised in its advertisements.
Ruth Day of Duke University advises the FDA on drug advertising. She has never seen a campaign that made such sweeping claims as those Yaz ads. NPR also discussed the FDA’s ruling that Bayer’s Yaz commercials had minimized the risks associated with Yaz, and how the FDA forced Bayer to run corrective commercials.
2700 women are now suing Bayer over Yaz, accordingly to the NPR story.
Listen to the NPR Yaz/Yasmin news report: “With Birth Control Pills, New Isn’t Always Better”