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Johnson & Johnson has paid at least $68.7 million to settle hundreds of lawsuits related to its Ortho Evra birth-control patch, which has been linked to harmful blood clots. The patch exposes women to higher doses of estrogen than ordinary contraceptive pills. Some studies have suggested that increased exposure raises the risk of blood clots, which can lead to strokes or heart attacks. J&J says the patch is safe if used according to its Food and Drug Administration-approved label. According to the wire service: Of 562 complaints reviewed by Bloomberg News, the vast majority of users alleged the patch caused...

Reuters A U.S. advocacy group is urging the Food and Drug Administration to pull Johnson & Johnson's birth control patch from the market after studies found an increased risk of dangerous blood clots. In a petition filed with the FDA on Thursday, Public Citizen's Health Research Group said the amount of estrogen released from the Ortho-Evra patch varies widely among individual women, and those who absorb too much were at greater risk for blood clots and other painful side effects. "The considerable safety concern of high-dose, variable estrogen exposure tips the balance of risks and benefits against the availability of...

Associated Press WASHINGTON — Women were warned today that their risk of blood clots in the legs and lungs may be higher if they use the birth-control patch instead of the pill. The Food and Drug Administration said it updated the label on the Ortho Evra birth-control patch to reflect the results of one study that found women using the patch faced twice the risk of clots than did women on the pill. However, a second study found no difference in risk between the two forms of birth control. "Even though the results of the two studies are conflicting, the...

AP NATIONAL WRITER The makers of a popular birth-control patch warned millions of women Thursday that the patch exposes them to significantly higher doses of hormones and may put them at greater risk for blood clots and other serious side effects than previously disclosed. The warning from Johnson and Johnson subsidiary Ortho McNeil, makers of Ortho Evra, says women using the patch will be exposed to about 60 percent more estrogen than those using typical birth-control pills because hormones from patches get into the bloodstream and are removed from the body differently than those from pills. Thursday's warning comes four...

Gingerly, Kathleen Thoren's family gathered around her in the intensive care unit, unable to speak to their beloved sister, daughter, wife, or even stroke her hands. The slightest stimulation might create a fatal amount of pressure on the 25-year-old woman's swollen brain, warned the doctors. "We were horrified, but we tried to just quietly be with her," said her sister Erika Klein. "In the end, it didn't help." The mother of three died last fall, just after Thanksgiving, after days of agonizing headaches that the coroner's report said were brought on by hormones released into her system by Ortho Evra,...