Yaz and Yasmin Lawsuit: The Blood-Clot Settlements

What the Lawsuits Alleged

Yaz, Yasmin and the generic Ocella are birth-control pills made by Bayer that use the hormone drospirenone. Lawsuits alleged that drospirenone significantly raised the risk of dangerous blood clots — deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism — compared with older pills, and that Bayer marketed the products for benefits like acne and PMS while understating the clot risk. Published studies in 2009 fueled the concern.

For a widely used contraceptive taken by healthy young women, an elevated clot risk that was allegedly downplayed is the heart of the claims.

The Settlements

Bayer resolved the litigation through a large settlement program rather than a single deal. It settled thousands of cases — more than 19,000 in total across the litigation — and reporting indicates it paid on the order of $2 billion to resolve blood-clot claims, with average per-case amounts in the low-hundreds-of-thousands for qualifying injuries. Bayer did not admit liability.

Settling case-by-case against defined injury criteria is common in drug litigation where the severity of harm varies widely among plaintiffs.

What Patients Should Know

This is legal-news coverage, not medical advice; all combined hormonal contraceptives carry some clot risk, and choices should be made with a doctor. The Yaz/Yasmin litigation is largely historical and not an open class action. Anyone who had a clot on these pills should keep medical records and consult qualified counsel about any remaining options.