Thirteen hundred women, most of whom became pregnant, filed a lawsuit in the United States due to an error in the packaging of birth control pills, claiming millions of dollars in damages, his lawyer said Thursday. AFP
The lawsuit filed last week in Philadelphia (East) points to four pharmaceutical companies that manufactured, packed and sold these pills, placed in the blister with inverted to "180 degrees" order.
Some applicants from 28 different states, demanding coverage full education of a child to his 18 years in addition to medical costs, lost wages and other complications related to her pregnancy.
The error in the packaging, which occurred in 2011, left the 113 plaintiffs "without adequate contraception, with the risk of an unwanted pregnancy," says the lawsuit. Indeed, the hormonal pill dose varies by day of the month.
Among these 113 women, 94 had a son, 17 did not continue with her pregnancy and two did not become pregnant, he told AFP the main lawyer for the lawsuit, Keith Bodoh.
The lawsuit aims to Qualitest Pharmaceuticals, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Endo Pharmaceuticals and Health Patheon Inc, the latter based in Canada. The companies are accused of negligence and violation of the rights to the protection of consumers.
In September 2011, Qualitest, a subsidiary of Endo, had voluntarily withdrawn "multiple lots" of birth control pills, sold under eight different brands, then invoking a "mistake packaging" that "could leave women without adequate contraception" as FDA (Food and Drug Administration), the agency that regulates medicines and food products in the United States.
Endo had stressed that because of this error the daily dose of pills could be incorrect.
Asked by AFP on Thursday, for now the company will not react to the demand.
Lawyers for the 113 plaintiffs tried to present the first class action in Atlanta (Georgia, southeast), but a federal judge rejected his request, said Bodoh.
The lawyers then pointed to Philadelphia, where the US headquarters of Endo is.