Ortho Evra. What it feels like for a girl…
Ortho Evra birth control patch is the first and only skin patch approved for birth control, and more than 4 million women have used the patch since it came on the market. It is a weekly prescription patch that releases ethinyl estradiol (an estrogen hormone) and norelgestromin (a progestin hormone) through the skin into the blood stream. Ortho Evra is manufactured by Ortho McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc., the part of Johnson & Johnson corporation.
In 2005, the conclusions of an Evra Ortho side effects study conducted by an independent panel of medical experts concluded that the Ortho Evra Patch triples a woman’s risk of developing a fatal blood clot or deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Women who use Ortho Evra are exposed to about 60 percent more total estrogen in their blood than if they were taking a typical birth control pill containing 35 micrograms of estrogen. Which also leads to weight gain, strokes, pulmonary embolisms and in some cases death.
In April 2004, an 18-year-old New York fashion student died while using the Ortho Evra patch. According to officials for the FDA and Ortho McNeil, the death is the first linked to the contraceptive patch. Information from the Medical Examiner’s Office indicates Zakiya Kennedy’s death was caused by a blood clot.
In November 2005, Ortho McNeil issued a warning to millions of women in US revealing that the patch exposes them to significant amounts of estrogen and may put them at greater risk of developing blood clots.
However, the warning to women regarding birth control patch side effects came too late for 23 women whose deaths were linked to Ortho Evra by the time the FDA published the caution.
The Ortho-Evra patch, which is available by prescription only, has not yet been pulled off the market. Moreover, the company started to penetrate the foreign markets. No information about the potential danger was revealed to healthcare providers or patients overseas, and no information on the official web site can be found. The name of the patch was slightly changed. In the Ukrainian market Ortho Evra patch sells like “Evra”, and in Russia the name was changed to “Evrika”.
The doctor assistant (company representative) talking to existing and potential patients through the official website in Russian market claims the product is 100% safe and refuses to admit “Evrika” to be the same patch known in US as “Ortho Evra patch”, hiding information about the danger associated with usage of Ortho Evra.
Concern about this potentially deadly Ortho Evra patch side effect continues to be fueled by recent reports of deaths linked to use of the birth control patch. Ortho Evra birth control patches have been blamed for the deaths of 23 women, including 17 women who died as a result of blood clot complications. Many of these alleged victims of fatal birth control patch side effects were young and healthy women with no history of blood clots or other cardiovascular conditions such as arrhythmia, heart attack, or stroke.
While more than 100 Ortho Evra lawsuits are currently pending the product is sold without any caution worldwide.
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Posted August 30th, 2007