YAZ, Yasmin, Ocella and Zarah

A New Form of Birth Control with New Health Risks

YAZ, Yasmin, Ocella and Zarah are a new form of birth control that comes with unique and potentially deadly side effects.

Yasmin (and its generic forms Zarah and Ocella) and YAZ are a similar type of birth control, but they have slightly different levels of one of their active ingredients.  Yasmin is the older of the two.  Yasmin was initially manufactured by Berlex Laboratories, a U.S. division of German pharmaceutical giant Schering AG.  Berlex obtained approval for the sale of Yasmin in the United States from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April 2001.  Bayer acquired Berlex in 2006.  Then, in order to keep their market share, Bayer introduced YAZ, which slightly altered the formula of Yasmin.

YAZ and Yasmin differ in their dosing schedule and the amount of ethinyl estradiol (estrogen) they contain. Yasmin birth control uses a 21/7 dosing schedule.  This means that for 21 days, women take the regular Yasmin pills, which are yellow.  For the last 7 days of their cycle, they take the white pills, which have no active ingredients.  YAZ birth control has a 24/4 dosing schedule.  For the first 24 days, women take the pink tablets, which contain the active ingredients.  For the last 4 days, they take the white tablets, which contain no active ingredients.  The differing dosing schedule reflects the fact that Yasmin has 30 mcg. of ethinyl estradiol, while YAZ has only 20 mcg.

Despite the above differences, YAZ and Yasmin both contain the same dosage of drospirenone (drsp), which is the ingredient that makes YAZ/Yasmin birth control particularly dangerous.  Zarah and Ocella are the generic equivalents of Yasmin, so they, too, contain drospirenone.

The YAZ lawyers and YAZ attorneys at DeCarli Law are evaluating and investigating YAZ side effect lawsuits and Yasmin side effect lawsuits.  Contact DeCarli Law for a free consultation if you or a loved one may have experienced a side effect of YAZ, Yasmin, Ocella or Zarah.