Bayer to pay $9M to women who took Yasmin birth control and developed blood clots

Health Canada says it has received reports of at least 23 young Canadian women who have died while taking one of two commonly prescribed birth control pills, Yaz and Yasmin.

After 15 years in litigation, Bayer Pharmaceuticals has agreed to a $9 million settlement after women who took the Yasmin birth control pill developed blood clots and gallbladder disease.

The class action stems from combined liability claims launched in Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan alleging Bayer, the maker of the oral contraceptives Yasmin and Yaz, was negligent in its marketing and distribution of the products and sold them without adequate warnings about the potential for serious side effects.

An initial statement of claim was filed in Saskatchewan in 2009.

By 2013, Health Canada revealed it had received reports about at least 23 women who died after taking one of the two commonly prescribed birth control pills, and over 300 reports of adverse reactions, including fainting spells, non-fatal pulmonary embolisms and blood clots in the legs.

The Saskatchewan lawsuit carried on for years, and after mutliple applications, that claim was certified as a multi-jurisdictional class action in October 2018.

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The lawsuits sought damages for the girls and women who used Bayer’s YAZ or Yasmin birth control pills and developed blood clots and gallbladder disease, as well as any consequent claims of their family members.

“The road to settlement was protracted, hard-fought and at arm’s length,” Justice Rochelle Wempe wrote last month in her Court of King’s Bench decision that formally approved the settlement on behalf of the plaintiffs in Saskatchewan.

The pharmaceutical giant, commonly known as the inventor of Aspirin, struck the deal with the plaintiffs last summer, and courts in Ontario and Quebec have already formally approved the settlement.

The settlement provides $8.1 million in compensation for the women and their families, with a portion covering legal and administrative fees. Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the three jurisdictions will receive a 30 per cent share of the settlement.

That amounts to just over $758,000 for the Saskatchewan-based legal counsel, after the inclusion of sales tax, plus additional disbursements totalling over $252,000.

“This amount is significantly less than the time docketed by class counsel,” Wempe said.

In sum, the counsel in each jurisdiction will receive over $1 million in compensation for their work.

Another $905,000 will be provided to provincial health insurers in Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan based on the distribution of the products by province.

Bayer has also agreed to pay a small $6,000 honoraria, to be divided equally between the representative plaintiffs in Ontario and Saskatchewan.

In her decision last month, Wempe ordered an additional honorarium of $1,000 each for the Saskatchewan plaintiffs “for their time and extra efforts pursuing this litigation over the past 15 years.”

Bayer and its subsidiaries have agreed to pay, but continue to deny the allegations.

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• Yaz and Yasmin birth control pills linked to 23 deaths: Health Canada