Ortho-McNeil, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, issues a warning about Ortho Evra™ birth-control patch
Ortho-McNeil, Inc. ("Ortho-McNeil, Inc. strives to provide innovative, high quality, safe and effective treatments to healthcare providers in primary care, hospitals and other care facilities.), a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Johnson & Johnson ("the world's most comprehensive and broadly based manufacturer of health care products, as well as a provider of related services, for the consumer, pharmaceutical, and medical devices and diagnostics markets") today issued a warning about its popular (used by 4 million women since 2002)
Ortho Evra™ birth-control patch.
According to an article from the Associated Press entitled
"Warning issued for birth-control patch.":
"The makers of a popular birth-control patch warned millions of women Thursday that the patch exposes them to significantly higher doses of hormones and may put them at greater risk for blood clots and other serious side effects than previously disclosed.
"The warning from Johnson and Johnson subsidiary Ortho McNeil, makers of Ortho Evra, says women using the patch will be exposed to about 60 percent more estrogen than those using typical birth control pills because hormones from patches get into the bloodstream and are removed from the body differently than those from pills.
"Thursday's warning comes four months after The Associated Press reported in July that patch users die and suffer blood clots at a rate three times higher than women taking the pill."
lawsuit against Ortho-McNeil for blood clots allegedly caused by Ortho Evra already pending
Read a July 29, 2005, press release from the law firm of Parker & Waichman, LLP, announcing that it had filed a suit against Ortho-McNeill Pharmaceutical, Inc., on behalf of a victim of the Ortho Evra birth control path ("Thirty-Year-Old Victim Suffered Two Blood Clots in Brain after Using Ortho Evra for Seven Months"), by clicking
here.
bring your own case
Those interested in legal representation in regard to injuries suffered due to the use of the Ortho-McNeill/Johnson & Johnson Ortho Evra product can find it by clicking
here.
is this another example of the well-known "scam/cover-up/scandal" syndrome?
the VIOXX™ "scam/cover-up/scandal" example
To read about a previous instance where a giant drug company (in that case Merck) sold, at great profit, a drug (VIOXX™) it knew to be dangerous, before taking it off the market, click on:
"Rx Wars, Volume 1: Chapter 8—VIOXX®."
To access the entire
Rx Wars, Volume 1, click on
Rx Wars, Volume 1.
To visit the web site dedicated to covering the latest developments regarding the production, distribution, and use of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu™, click on
Tamiflu™ World.
local CBS owned-and-operated station reporter suggests that this case "is going to be a shock for a lot of women"
"This is going to a shock for a lot of women," said
Lisa Sigell, a general assignment reporter for Los Angeles television channels CBS 2 and KCAL 9 since July of 2002, during a segment on CBS 2 tonight rehashing the Associated Press story about this latest case of a major pharmaceutical company selling a drug product it knew to be dangerous.
Ortho Evra warning issued just when things were looking up for the giant drug companies
Johnson & Johnson, and other big drug companies, are just coming off a big victory in the California Statewide Special Election, in which they spent
$80 million to muddy the waters regarding drug discount programs, leading to the defeat of both Proposition 79, sponsored by consumer groups, and their own Proposition 78, which would have allowed the drug companies to offer voluntary discounts they could be offering already.
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