J&J settles lawsuit over Ortho Evra

RARITAN, N.J. Ortho Evra manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson, recently settled a lawsuit with the family of a 14-year-old girl killed by the defective birth control patch.

According to Bloomberg reports, the family was paid approximately $1.25 million for the death of 14-year-old Alycia Brown, who died in May 2004 from two blood clots in her lungs that developed after she had been using the Ortho Evra birth control patch for several weeks.

The case is just one of 2,000 Ortho Evra lawsuits.

Ortho Evra was introduced in 2002 as a weekly contraceptive patch. In 2005, the Food & Drug Administration discovered and warned that women using Ortho Evra were exposed to approximately 60 percent more estrogen than those who used oral contraceptive pills. High levels of estrogen can greatly increase the risk of developing blood clots, heart attacks, strokes and other serious injuries.

After publishing the warning, the FDA received twenty-one reports of life-threatening blood clots and other ailments associated with the use of Ortho Evra. Then in 2006, a study was published that showed women using the contraceptive patch were twice as likely to suffer blood clots as those taking oral birth control pills. That study impelled the FDA to request a change on the Ortho Evra label to include a stronger safety warning.