Recently, the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the Yaz and Yasmin litigation opposed a motion to exclude the opinions of former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, David Kessler, concerning possible conflicts of interest.  The Plaintiffs’ attorneys have asked Judge Herndon, who is overseeing the federal Yaz and Yasmin cases, to allow in evidence showing that conflicts of interest may have tainted the meetings of an independent advisory committee to the FDA that was asked to consider the health risks associated with Yaz and Yasmin.

Specifically, it is alleged that four members of the FDA advisory committee that voted not to remove Yaz and Yasmin from the U.S. market received significant sums of money from Bayer and Bayer Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturers of Yaz and Yasmin.  Ultimately, the FDA advisory committee voted 15-11 to keep the oral contraceptives on the market, concluding that the benefits of Yaz and Yasmin outweigh the risks.  Plaintiffs contend that either Bayer hid the ties to the four members of the advisory committee from its experts or its experts intentionally omitted the ties from their reports.  Not surprisingly, the FDA has defended the findings of its advisory committee.

As previously reported, Judge Herndon recently ordered both sides to mediation, which postponed the initial trial date to April 30, 2012, if mediation is not successful.

If you feel you have experienced any side-effects from taking YAZ® or Yasmin®, you can contact Stark & Stark and speak to one of the Mass Tort/Pharmaceutical Litigation attorneys, free of charge, who can help assess any claims that you might have against the YAZ® or Yasmin®  manufacturers.