Clearing The Air

Johnson & Johnson is being sued over health concerns of their "patch"

The Food and Drug Administration warned users of the popular Ortho Evra birth control patch that they are being exposed to more hormones, and are therefore at higher risk of blood clots and other serious side effects, than previously disclosed.

Until now, regulators and patch-maker Ortho McNeil, a Johnson and Johnson subsidiary, had maintained the patch was expected to be associated with similar risks as the pill. But a strongly worded warning was added to the patch label Thursday that says women using the patch will be exposed to about 60 percent more estrogen than those using typical birth control pills.

In addition, an internal Ortho McNeil memo shows that the company refused, in 2003, to fund a study comparing its Ortho Evra patch to its Ortho-Cyclen pill because of concerns there was "too high a chance that study may not produce a positive result for Evra"

full story here:

It is ironic then that J & J's sister organization RWJF is more than happy to fund smoking ban legislation. But then, as the above quote suggests Johnson and Johnson and subsequently the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will only finance a sure thing.........like smoking bans.....to sell more patches. (Nicoderm patches are manufactured by ALZA another division of J & J)

Other legal action against Johnson & Johnson

posted by marcus aurelius @ 9:05 AM