Lawsuits allege J&J hid Ortho Evra safety data
Johnson & Johnson hid safety data and misled women about the risk of Ortho Evra side effects, according to several recent lawsuits filed by women who were injured after using the birth control patch. The women’s claims were made in documents filed by their Ortho Evra attorneys as part of a number of lawsuits that have been consolidated in a Toledo, Ohio federal court. In their Ortho Evra lawsuits, the women allege that the birth control patch delivers a 60% higher estrogen dose than birth control pills. Because estrogen can increase the risk of blood clots, women who use the patch are two to three times more likely to suffer a heart attack, stroke, deep vein thrombosis or other Ortho Evra side effects than women who use the pill. However, in documents filed by their Ortho Evra lawyers, the women allege that Johnson & Johnson concealed this information from the Food and Drug Administration, meaning that many women who used the patch were unaware of the potential dangers then faced from the side effects of Ortho Evra. Johnson & Johnson has been forced to strengthen the Ortho Evra warning label three times since 2005 to alert women of the potential health risks faced by users of the patch. Since then, the company has announced that it wants to settle many of the Ortho Evra lawsuits that have been filed by patients who experienced birth control patch side effects.