Washington, DCSafety concerns associated with Yasmin birth control have increased due to a report by federal health scientists regarding the alleged risk of dangerous blood clots resulting from the drug, The Associated Press reported.
A new study that was released by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviewed the medical history of more than 800,000 women who were taking different forms of birth control between 2001 and 2007.
Data from the research showed that women who were taking Yasmin had a 75 percent greater chance of experiencing a blood clot than women taking older birth control drugs.
According to the news outlet, the medication contains estrogen along with a next-generation synthetic hormone called drospirenone, which is known to increase the levels of potassium that are present in the blood. The FDA compared the medical records of females that took Yasmin with those who were on the older drug levonorgestrel.
Yasmin and related drospirenone-containing pills were Bayer's second-best-selling franchise last year, bringing in $1.6 billion in global sales for the pharmaceutical company, the news outlet reported.
"At a certain point we have to ask why the FDA continues to approve drugs that are less safe and have no benefit compared to drugs already on the market," Dr. Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Center for Women and Families, a consumer group for women’s health issues, told the AP. "With all these different birth control options, why take the most expensive one that can also kill you?"
The Associated Press reported that a study involving more than 1 million Danish women found that Yasmin and other new medications had twice the risk of blood clots as women taking the older medication. This data appeared in the British Medical Journal.
The International Business Times reported that Bayer came out against the publication of the FDA study, as the pharmaceutical company disagreed with the data and noted that they spend significant amounts of money to test these drugs.
"Bayer's assessment, based on its review to date, is that the manner in which the authors applied the study methodology reported in these two publications and the databases used provide less reliable conclusions than are available from existing scientific evidence around the risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE), or blood clots, with combination oral contraceptives (COCs)," the company said in a release.
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