Bayer Approves the Contraceptive Safyral, Just as Dangerous as Yaz and Beyaz

Despite controversy surrounding the Bayer Corporation’s popular birth control brand Yaz, which contains the hormone drospirenone, the company has released a similar product under the name Safyral, which contains 3mg of that same hormone.

The difference between Yaz and Safyral is the addition of folate, which is a form of vitamin B that aids against neural tube defects in a fetus in case the birth control fails and a pregnancy occurs. Although this is practical in case of unplanned pregnancy, it does not change the fact that the birth control is based on a hormone that has proven to be unsafe to many women.

Some of the life-threatening side effects that women have experienced while taking drospirenone birth control include blood clot, heart attack, stroke, and gallbladder disease, with these serious side effects manifesting even in women who are otherwise completely healthy. Yaz markets itself as an effective birth control that also treats some other common health concerns for women, such as acne and excessive PMS. Safyral and a similar product Beyaz are using the same marketing scheme by promoting themselves as birth control with bonuses.

Although not enough tests have been run on the new drugs to accurately determine whether or not they will cause the same serious side effects of Yaz birth control, they contain the same primary ingredient and will likely put customers at risk before they are completely informed. Unfortunately the Food and Drug Administration has agreed to approve this new product despite the evidence showing that it could be detrimental to women’s health.

If you're one of the thousands of women injured by Yasmin birth control, it's important to know  your rights.  Consult an experienced Yaz Lawyer who can help  you.  Time is of  the essence, as the statute of limitations can prevent valid claims from ever reaching the courts. 

What you need to know about the Yaz Lawsuits

Amidst allegations that their birth control brands Yaz and Yasmin, drospirenone products, can cause serious and possibly life-threatening side effects, the Bayer Corporation has been flooded with lawsuits from women who feel that the company misrepresented its product.

Concerning side effects that some women have experienced include blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, gall bladder disease, and pancreatitis – even in patients who would have otherwise been healthy. The Food and Drug Administration has advised the Bayer Corporation that they have misrepresented their product in advertisements, in which they exaggerate the benefits of the product and gloss over the more worrying side effects.

The Food and Drug Administration recently forced the Bayer Corporation to issue a recall of the product, and many lawsuits are being filed by women who have suffered some of the more serious side effects. More than 150,000 boxes of birth control pills have been recalled, including a large quantity of the generic brand Ocella. Bayer Corporation has failed to acknowledge that the risks of taking Yaz or Yasmin outweigh the benefits, especially since there are other safer medications on the market that perform the task that these drugs are meant to.

The number of women who are reporting serious complications relating to these medications is on the increase, but Yaz and Yasmin remain among the most popular forms of oral contraceptives on the market.  

Beyaz – Putting lipstick on a pig?

Beyaz, a new contraceptive released by Bayer HealthCare, most likely has the very same harmful side effects as Yaz and Yasmin because, well, Beyaz has essentially the same ingredients as Yaz and Yasmin. There’s an added daily dose of folate, a B vitamin, among other relatively insignificant additions to the formulation.

Where is the need for Beyaz if it contains same ingredients as Yaz?

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals has been misrepresenting the dangers (and the “benefits”) of their Yaz and Yasmin birth control products for a long time now. For some reason, Bayer has released a new contraceptive product called Beyaz that incorporates minor modifications that, not surprisingly, don’t come close to addressing the serious detrimental side effects of the original drugs Yaz and Yasmin. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the difference between Beyaz and Yaz is the introduction of the folic acid vitamin B9, which is necessary to help prevent preeclampsia and spina bifidia birth defects in pregnancies. Astoundingly, this is a safeguard to ensure that a baby is born without defects in case of unintended pregnancy, despite the intended purpose of the birth control drug in the first place.

Yaz side effects are ongoing and still dangerous

What is the justification for this “new” product? Can you just imagine the corporate meetings at Bayer that precipitated this travesty? “Rather than address the faults of our original product, let’s re-package it as a new product with a catchy yet similar name. And in case it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do, we’ll add a vitamin to help prevent birth defects.” It’s just amazing that Beyaz exists at all.

Yaz and Yasmin are still causing gall bladder disease, pulmonary embolisms, deep vein thrombosis, strokes, and heart attacks in unsuspecting women. Why does Bayer think the consumer is going to believe Beyaz is going to be any different when the base ingredients are identical? The introduction of folic acid can’t do any harm, but it doesn't do any good unless the birth control part doesn't work! And it certainly does nothing to alleviate the ever-increasing number of health issues that women are suffering from when taking these birth control products.

Where’s the recall? Why is Yaz still being sold?

For some reason, the FDA has approved this new birth control formulation. But there’s no reason to think that it doesn't have all the risks that are present in Yaz and Yasmin. Despite the numerous Yaz lawsuits, there’s still no indication that a Yaz recall is on the horizon anytime soon. Perplexing indeed.

Beyaz serious risk acknowledged

There’s a minor victory however; at least now Bayer clearly describes the most serious risks of Beyaz use on their official website, covering the damaging side effects such as blood clots, stroke and heart attack, and even mentioning that risks of blood clots are highest during the first year of use. But this is not enough. Since the product is clearly dangerous, why is it being sold in the first place?

Bayer sued by Canadians over Yaz and Yasmin

Bayer Pharmaceuticals, the makers of the Yaz and Yasmin birth control pills, is the target of a class action lawsuit initiated by a number of Canadian women. These birth control products are also promoted as an acne medication, marketed to young girls as solution to the potentially chronic skin condition. The lawsuits are targeting Bayer because of a number of severe, life-threatening Yaz side effects; side effects which in many instances are powerful enough to cause death.

Yaz and Yasmin side effects include heart attacks, strokes, pulmonary embolisms, gall bladder disease, blood clots, deep vein thrombosis, hyperkalemia and cardiac arrest.

Plaintiffs want recompense for expensive hospital bills and for pain and suffering, as well as for the company to make amends for the misleading marketing that downplayed the serious side effects that too often result from taking Yaz and Yasmin.

News of a Yaz recall

The FDA acted to halt distribution of the treacherous Yaz and Yasmin birth control products by forcing Bayer to issue a product recall. This action was predicated by clear evidence in the FDA quality control data that disclosed varying amounts of the hormone drospirenone. A vast increase in cases of otherwise young, healthy people developing blood clots is connected with drospirenone; data that demonstrated that Bayer didn’t thoroughly test their new hormone with proper trials before releasing it for public consumption.

The fact that Bayer agreed to spend twenty million dollars to correct their misleading advertisements, in addition to the FDA recall on the drug, indicates that the Canadian plaintiffs will doubtless have all the ammunition they need against Bayer in the courtroom.

The FDA has a mandate to prevent companies from running misleading advertising which blatantly conceals the fact that their products are shown to cause health problems. In the case of Yaz and Yasmin these include strokes, heart attacks, gall bladder disease, pulmonary embolisms and deep vein thrombosis – side effects sadly suffered by women who put their trust in these birth control drugs.

Plenty of current Yaz lawsuits now and plenty more on the horizon

Right now, there are more than 4,000 lawsuits filed against Bayer HealthCare in the US, an it could easily reach over 20,000 court cases, or even many more, depending on how long Bayer continues to sell and promote their drospirenone-containing drugs, resulting in many more innocent young women becoming deathly sick from the outrageous adverse side effects caused by Yaz and Yasmin.

It is unknown exactly what the results of these new Canadian Yaz lawsuits will be, but all signs point to significant judgments for the aggrieved parties in the foreseeable future.