NEW YORK (WPIX)—
An understudy for the Broadway show "Wicked" is suing the drug company Bayer after she had a stroke at the age of 27, and is alleging that the birth control pills she was taking at the time were the cause.Brenda Hamilton has recovered from her May 2007 stroke, that she claims is directly related to Yasmin, a birth control pill made by Bayer that she had been taking for two years.
The civil suit was filed Wednesday in the Bronx, and alleges that Bayer was aware that Yasmin was much more likely than other birth control pills to cause blood clots and strokes, and that the drug company covered up the information.
In the past, studies established a correlation between increased levels of estrogen in birth control and strokes, so Bayer had advertised Yasmin as being safer than other birth control pills . However, in 2008, the FDA cited Bayer for misleading consumers about the safety of the pill.
A Google search brings up a laundry list of law firms calling for women suffering from a wide variety of symptoms that may be connected to Yasmin to contact them. Those symptoms include: heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, gall bladder disease, and others.
Yasmin has reportedly brought $1.5 billion into Bayer coffers since 2009.
