Personal Injury Law

First Federal Ortho Evra Trials Scheduled

By Brenda Fulmer

On December 6, 2007, Judge David Katz, the federal judge who oversees the Ortho Evra multi-district litigation proceedings in Cleveland issued a scheduling order for the first trials to be conducted in the federal system. Judge Katz oversees more than 1,400 lawsuits pending against Johnson & Johnson (http://www.jnj.com/home.htm) and its subsidiaries relating to the controversial Ortho Evra birth control patch. The patch was marketed as an alternative to modern low-dose oral contraceptives, but it is now known that the patches deliver as much as 60 times higher doses of hormones than other alternatives without providing any greater efficacy. Many years ago, birth control pills contained higher doses of hormones, but the dosages have been reduced over the years after high-dose medications were associated with an unacceptable increase in adverse events, including strokes and blood clots. Ortho Evra has also been associated with an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, and the formation of blood clots in the lungs and legs.

Full post as published by Tampa Bay Personal Injury Law on December 31, 2007 (boomark / email).