The Madison Record, "Women claim contraceptive didn't come with blood clot warning"

          The popular contracreptive Ortho Evra is the target of seven product liability suits filed by women claiming the drug maker failed to warn them about the risk of developing blood clots.
          The suits, filed in in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois on Jan. 23, each seek damages in excess of $75,000 against defendants Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals and its parent company Johnson & Johnson.
          "Defendants failed to warn consumers and their health care providers that the Ortho Evra transdermal birth control patch is more likely to cause blood clots than oral contraceptives," the complaints state.
          Unlike oral contraceptives, Ortho Evra is transdermal, which means continuous levels of the hormones estrogen and progestin are delivered through the skin into the bloodstream. Ortho Evra is marketed as the "first and only" once-a-week birth control skin patch.
          The plaintiffs also claim that records from the Food and Drug Administration show that a high number of women using the patch reportedly suffered injury or death due to blood clots compared to women using oral contraceptives.
          They claim that the drug maker asserts that the most frequent side effect leading to discontinuation include nausea or vomiting, application site reaction, breast symptoms, headache and emotional liability.
          According to the suit, the defendants' own clinical studies showed a higher rate of venous thromboembolism in women on the patch compared to those using the pill and concealed the extent of the side effects from the public, including the plaintiffs' and their doctors.