Bayer’s Yasmin Lawsuit Settlements Rise to $402.6 Million - Bloomberg

Bayer’s Yasmin Lawsuit Settlements Rise to $402.6 Million - Bloomberg

via bloomberg.com Bayer AG (BAYRY) said settlements of U.S. lawsuits claiming that its Yasmin line of birth-control pills caused blood clots in women have increased to more than $402 million.
Bayer, based in Leverkusen, Germany, has resolved almost 1,900 cases alleging its Yasmin and Yaz contraceptives caused clots that can lead to heart attacks and strokes, the company said today in a stockholders’ newsletter. Bayer said it has paid out $402.6 million in settlements of one category of clot cases, for an average of about $212,000 a case.
Bayer also more than doubled its reserve for Yaz cases, setting aside 496 million euros ($610.5 million), the company said. The drugmaker had set aside a total of about 200 million euros in 2010 and 2011, according to securities filings.
“We believe we have made appropriate provisions for most of the cases we consider to be worthy of settlement with these accounting measures,” Bayer officials said in an e-mailed statement.
Drug-industry analysts, such as JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Richard Vosser, have said Bayer may be forced to pay more than 2 billion euros to resolve all the cases over the contraceptives.
In April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered Bayer and other contraceptive makers to strengthen blood-clot warnings on their products. Posted via email from Jack's posterous read more..