Additional Information
Ortho Evra Birth Control
The information on this page is provided for informational purposes only. As of 2011, the Simmons firm is no longer accepting cases involving Ortho Evra patch.
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After it was released, Ortho Evra was hailed as one of the “coolest inventions of the year” by Time magazine. Unfortunately, the halo didn’t last. Shortly thereafter, a significant number of women who used the patch experienced serious, and sometimes deadly Studies have shown that women who use Ortho Evra could be exposed to up to 60% more estrogen than the most popular form of the pill. This has been linked to:
- blood clots
- pulmonary embolism
- deep venous thrombosis
- stroke
- heart attack
- coma
- death
What is Ortho Evra?
The Ortho Evra patch contains estrogen and progestin, which enter a woman’s body transdermally, or through the skin. The patch works by preventing ovulation, thickening the cervical mucous and inhibiting the movement of sperm and preventing the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus.
Ortho Evra Side Effects
While the vast majority of women who take Ortho Evra have found it to be effective and safe, there are serious safety concerns about the patch, which have forced new warning labels to be added to the medication. Possible Ortho Evra side effects include:
- pulmonary embolism
- deep vein thromboses (DVTs)
- heart attack
- ischemic stroke
FDA Warning
An FDA Press Release dated January 18, 2008, states that women taking the Ortho Evra patch are at a higher risk of developing blood clots than women taking birth control pills. Read the FDA Press Release.
How Ortho Evra Works
The Ortho Evra patch contains estrogen and progestin, which enter a woman’s body transdermally, or through the skin. The patch works by preventing ovulation, thickening the cervical mucous and inhibiting the movement of sperm and preventing the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus.
The patch generally gives women a predictable four-week cycle. A woman wears the patch for three weeks and then wears no patch during the fourth week. A new patch is applied after the off-week.
Of course, the vast majority of women who take the drug have found it to be effective and safe. However, there are serious safety concerns about the patch, which have forced new warning labels to be added to the medication.
Studies have shown that women who use Ortho Evra could be exposed to up to 60% more estrogen than the most popular form of the pill. This has been linked to blood clots, pulmonary embolism, deep venous thrombosis, stroke, heart attack, coma and death.
Timeline of Events
December 27, 2000 - Johnson & Johnson submits its application for approval to the FDA for the Ortho Evra birth control patch.
November 20, 2001- Ortho Evra receives approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
April 30, 2002 - Ortho Evra is made available by prescription.
April 2002 – September 2003 - 9,116 adverse event reports concerning Ortho Evra are submitted to the FDA. During the same time only 1,237 adverse event reports concerning the leading contraceptive pill are reported to the FDA despite the fact that the pill was used by six times the number of women on the patch.
November 11, 2002 - Time Magazine lists Ortho Evra as one of the “coolest inventions” of 2002.
2004 - almost 10 million prescriptions for Ortho Evra were written in 2004 with sales amounting to $411 million.
April 2005 - First Death Publicly linked with Ortho Evra use. An 18-year-old fashion student in New York collapses on a subway platform and later dies from a blood clot.
May 7, 2004- An eigth grader dies from a blood clot after using Ortho Evra for eight weeks. At 14 years old, this is the youngest known death attributed to Ortho Evra.
November 10, 2005 - FDA requires an update to the Ortho Evra label. The new label includes information that women who use the Ortho Evra patch are exposed to 60% more estrogen than women using a traditional birth control pill. This increased exposure to estrogen can raise a woman’s risk for developing blood clots.
February 2006 - A study by Drug Safety shows that women using the Ortho Evra patch have twice the risk of developing a blood clot versus women taking a birth control pill.
March 2006 - FDA announces that it will investigate the safety of medicated patches with Ortho Evra as one of its first products of inquiry.
January 2008 - FDA announces that the risks of blood clots are higher for women taking the Ortho Evra patch than birth control pills.
* Please note that recovery results vary per client. The recovery amounts in each case reflect the specific facts of that case. Further, recovery amounts in past cases are not a guarantee of future results.