Ortho Evra birth control patch news

I gotta start by saying I love that little flying carefree chick in the Ortho Evra birth control patch logo.

Just looking at it brings me peace, so much peace, I could barely raise an eyebrow when reading the Media Post April 5 article that Johnson & Johnson has been buying domain names in a preemptive strike against the creation of websites that might draw negative attention to Ortho Evra. I might wonder why did I not have my peaceful head in the sand. According to MP:

A study from February 2006 showed that blood clot risk was doubled for women using the birth control patch versus oral contraceptives. In addition, women who use the patch are exposed to 60% more hormones than those who take birth control pills....

My, that would sound serious if I didn't have the blind confidence that hormonal contraception is safer than any malady known to women, particularly fetal parasites. Imagine my surprise, then, when reading J&J's 2006 annual report, filed with the SEC six weeks ago, to see 1500 lawsuits or liability claims have been filed against Ortho Evra to date (p. 89), making it J&J's most highly sued product!

And I'm shocked to read more should be expected! According to Lawyers and Settlements:

Legal experts predict causation in cases involving... the Ortho patch will be easy to prove because the plaintiffs have what is referred to as a "signature disease," meaning a condition easily tied to the drug because it is rare....

Blood clots seldom develop in young women of childbearing age. And legal experts say, for that reason, many Ortho patch lawsuits have already ended in confidential settlements with hardly a peep in the mainstream press, and J&J has made it clear to other plaintiffs' attorneys that the company is willing to cut a deal.

Experts predict that many more lawsuits will be filed because there are thousands of young patch victims who are still unaware that the patch caused the health problems. In 2005 alone, more than 9.4 million prescriptions were written for the Ortho patch, according to IMS Health, an industry-tracking firm.

The FDA says it has received about 9,000 reports of adverse events related to the patch, but the agency also acknowledges that only between 1% and 10% of adverse events are ever get reported.

Yet in its 2006 SEC report, J&J continued to tout Evra as "the first contraceptive patch approved by the FDA," and attributed "a significant decline in sales" due to "labeling changes and negative media coverage concerning product safety."

Nevertheless, I shall not allow my ignorant peace to be disrupted by safety concerns. And speaking of, I shall continue to repeat the false but really nice sounding abortion industry mantra, "abortion, so much safer than pregnancy!"

Whoops, pregnancy, did I say? My peace is wobbling. Yet I know I cannot become pregnant on the hormonal birth control! The makers tell me so, and they wouldn't lie! See here on the The Ortho Evra website:

Ortho Evra helps prevent pregnancy the same way birth control pills do: by preventing ovulation, which means that the ovary does not release an egg to be fertilized; by thickening the cervical mucus, which makes it more difficult for sperm to enter the uterus; and by changing the endometrium to reduce the chance of implantation.

Implantation of what, I would wonder if I weren't in my peaceful yoga fetal position.

Source: Jill Stanek