Ortho Evra

Additional Information:

Ortho Evra Birth Control Patch
Ortho Evra is birth control in the form of a patch, which once placed on a woman’s skin needs to be changed once a week, as compared to other forms of contraceptives, such as the pill, which must be taken daily. Since the drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2001, four to five million women have taken this convenient form of birth control. Many women in Minnesota were written prescriptions for Ortho Evra since the drug’s approval.

The Ortho Evra patch has become very popular in the past few years, in part from the aggressive marketing campaign by Ortho McNeil, which includes advertisements in magazines, on television, and the use of celebrity endorsement in Minnesota and throughout the United States.

Birth Control Patch Warnings
A warning was released on November 10, 2005 from Ortho McNeil, the makers of the Ortho Evra birth control patch, regarding health concerns associated with the popular birth control. The warning stated that the Ortho patch places women at a high risk for blood clots, as well as other dangerous side effects, as the result of the increased doses of hormones that the patch has. The FDA issued a patient information sheet that noted since the Ortho Evra patch allows the hormones to travel through the bloodstream differently than other forms of birth control, women are exposed to approximately 60% more estrogen than they would receive from the average birth control pill.

Serious Side Effects
FDA has received more than twenty reports of serious blood clots and other severe side effects linked to the use of Ortho Evra. Furthermore, a report released by the Associated Press earlier this year stated that women patients who use the Ortho Evra patch are at a risk for death and blood clots three times higher than women who take birth control pills. The FDA has updated the labeling requirements for the Ortho Evra Patch. On September 20, 2006 the FDA released a statement regarding the labeling revisions and disclosing the risk factors for blood clots.