Pharmagossip reported today that “settlements of U.S. lawsuits claiming that its Yasmin line of birth-control pills caused blood clots in women have increased to more than $402 million.” The actual figure is $402.6 million dollars, and the average settlement value has been $212,000 per case.
Even bigger news is that Bayer has set aside over $610 million dollars to handle settlements of these cases. Bayer expects the number of lawsuits over Yaz to grow, and it obviously expects to continue making settlements in these cases. No one knows the total amount Bayer will pay to settle these cases, but stock analyst Richard Vosser of JPMorgan Chase & Co has “said Bayer may be forced to pay more than 2 billion euros to resolve all the cases over the contraceptives.” Bayer has only set aside not-quite 500 million euros, so that would be a fourfold increase in the amount Bayer expects to pay.
Right now Bayer is only settling those cases in which a woman suffered a Yaz side effect related to blood clots, such as a pulmonary embolism or a DVT. At this time, Bayer is not settling cases for women who suffered kidney damage while using Yaz.
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