RD Legal Funding Provides Immediate Settlement Financing to Growing Number of Yaz and Yasmin Plaintiffs

CRESSKILL, N.J., July 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Bayer, the German chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturer, has settled another 1000 Yaz and Yasmin related lawsuits since the April report, raising the amount Bayer has agreed to pay out to $300 million. An additional 7,500 suits are expected to be settled by year's end according to the federally appointed mediator working on the cases (source). However, disbursement of settlement funds to plaintiffs and their attorneys may take months, if not years—too long for some of the women who have suffered grievous illnesses as a result of Bayer's negligence in not providing adequate warnings on Yaz and Yasmin. RD Legal Funding, LLC ("RD Legal") is offering the plaintiffs and their attorneys settlement financing once their award amounts are finalized.

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Thanks in large part to aggressive marketing, Yaz became the top-selling birth control pill in the United States, generating $1.58 billion in sales in 2010. Bayer targeted the oral contraceptive to women under 35, touting it as the birth control pill that also reduced premenstrual depression and acne. Although those most at risk were older women, tragically, as a result of Bayer's marketing strategy, many younger plaintiffs suffered physical illnesses not usually seen in women their age.

Yaz and Yasmin have been linked to increased risk in women of venous thromboembolism; deep vein thrombosis; pulmonary embolism; heart attacks; and strokes. A deep vein thrombosis is a blood clot that occurs in the deep veins of the legs or pelvis.  A pulmonary embolism takes place when a blood clot breaks off, travels through the blood stream, and becomes lodged near the lung. October 2010 court records indicate that of the cases filed at that time, approximately 40 to 41 percent involved a deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism; 10 percent involved a heart attack or stroke from Yaz; and about 43 percent involved claims for gallbladder injury from Yaz. 

Women taking Yaz and Yasmin claim they were never warned of the severity of potential side effects. Concerns about hormonal contraceptives were raised as early as October 2001, when a U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) study reported an estimated 150% increase in the risk of blood clots among women who used birth control pills containing drospirenone (the synthetic progestin used in Yaz and Yasmin) compared to the users of other hormonal contraceptives.

A study by Danish scientists published in 2011 in the New England Journal of Medicine found that women taking birth control pills formulated like Yaz and Yasmin suffered heart attacks and strokes between one point five and two times more often than women not using hormonal contraception.

On April 10, 2012, the FDA began requiring warnings of higher risk of blood clots on the labels of drospirenone birth control pills. Federal regulators censured Bayer for their misleading ad campaigns which downplayed Yaz and Yasmin's serious risks. 

Yaz and Yasmin plaintiffs and their attorneys are encouraged to contact RD Legal at 1-800-565-5177 or visit http://www.legalfunding.com for more information about immediate settlement financing as soon as their settlement amounts have been determined. Founded in 1997, RD Legal has established itself as one of the nation's leading providers of lawsuit settlement funding to attorneys and plaintiffs.  

Sources:

http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/settlement-agreements-yaz-yasmin-lawsuits-30089/

http://www.madisonrecord.com/news/245130-settlements-in-yaz-litigation-continue-mediator-is-cautiously-optimistic-that-end-is-in-sight

http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Alonso-Krangle-LLP-Reports-Progress-in-Yaz-3693826.php

http://www.publichealthwatchdog.com/yaz-yasmin-settlements-progressing-talks-could-continue-another-year/

SOURCE RD Legal Funding, LLC