Defective Drug

Ocella Lawyer for Dangerous Side Effects

If You Have Been Injured By Ocella, Our Attorneys Can Help You Today

Unfortunately, much like its brand-name predecessors, reports of serious Ocella side effects eventually began to surface. Below you’ll find information regarding how Ocella got to the market, how it works, details regarding the reports of Ocella side effects that developed, risk factors that were identified with some who were taking Ocella and finally how you should proceed if you or someone you love has been harmed as a result of Ocella side effects.

A Brief History of Ocella Birth Control

Ocella is very similar in chemical composition to Yasmin and Yaz, and the manufacturer of Ocella, Barr Pharmaceuticals, went through a long fight to even earn the right to market Ocella in the United States. Bayer Healthcare held the patents on both Yasmin and Yaz, and eventually Barr Pharmaceuticals worked through an extensive legal process to gain access to the birth control market.

After a series of motions and hearings, judges eventually invalidated the patents held by Bayer Pharmaceuticals as they related to Yasmin and Yaz, and Barr Pharmaceuticals had earned the right to market its generic equivalent. This generic equivalent was known as Ocella, and it hit the market in 2008.

Ocella works in much the same way as Yasmin and Yaz, in that it performs two primary functions in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies. These functions are:

• Preventing ovulation in a woman
• Prompting changes in the uterine and cervical walls inside the woman’s reproductive system such that even if an egg was somehow fertilized, it would be unable to attach to the uterus and begin to grow into a fetus and eventually an infant.

• The two active ingredients in Ocella, hormones known as drospirenone and ethinylestradiol, also were discovered to provide off-label benefits to those who used it. These off-label uses soon developed into the administering of Ocella to treat the symptoms of acne and the symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder, commonly known as PMDD. Neither use was ever specifically approved by the FDA, but that didn’t prevent these applications by doctors.

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Ocella Side Effects – Serious Injuries for Women

It wasn’t long before many who had used Ocella began to develop serious and dangerous Ocella side effects. These Ocella side effects were eerily similar to those that had been linked to both Yasmin and Yaz, and they included:

• Strokes
• Kidney damage
• Heart attacks
• Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)
• Pulmonary embolisms
• Death

DVT and pulmonary embolisms are not only relatively rare in general, but they also are somewhat related and extremely dangerous. DVT is a condition that results when blood clots form deep inside the tissue of a woman’s body, usually in the leg/thigh area. When these clots grow to a certain size, they break off from their origination site and eventually wind up in the tissue of the lungs. When this occurs, the condition is known as a pulmonary embolism. Each of these conditions can be fatal for those who suffer from them.

Ocella Side Effects – Birth Control Pill Injury

In addition to the development of Ocella side effects, researchers eventually began to discover that women with certain types of health histories seemed to be at a higher risk for developing Ocella side effects than others. These health conditions included:

• Obesity
• History of heart problems
• Kidney problems
• Diabetes
• Jaundice
• Cancer
• Depression

If you have any history of these medical problems and you’re using Ocella, contact your doctor immediately to discuss the situation.

Ocella Side Effects Lawyers – Helping Injured Women

It’s unfortunate that it appears at this time that Ocella is following in the same procedural path as its brand-named predecessors of Yasmin and Yaz. As such, no official government action has yet been taken in regards to any strict warnings or recalls, but the absence of these steps by the government does not preclude those who were harmed by Ocella side effects from taking actions to protect and enforce their legal rights.

The most common step taken to date involves filing legal claims against Barr Pharmaceuticals for damages incurred as a result of Ocella side effects. If this has happened to you or someone you love, you need to take the same steps. Contact the Ocella side effects lawyers at the law firm of Phillips Law Firm today to schedule a free initial consultation.