Bayer AG has had its trial postponed after U.S. District Judge David Herndon ordered that a mediator be appointed in hopes of settling the case outside court. According to Bloomberg, the trial that was originally scheduled for early January concerns claims that its popular birth-control pill Yaz caused blood clots in female patients. More than 10,000 suits have already been filed against the German company.
Herndon said that Bayer and attorneys representing the women suing the company will meet with mediator Stephen Saltzburg of George Washington University to talk about potential settlements.
The concern arose last year when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to women taking Yaz, telling them that they were 74 percent more likely to suffer blood clots than women on other, similar forms of birth control. They came to these findings after examining data on more than 835,000 women taking the pills, Bloomberg said.
The effects were widespread, as Yaz was the fourth most popular form of oral contraceptive in the United States in 2011. Nearly five percent of the market was comprised of Bayer customers, IMS Health reported.
But the company has faced ongoing lawsuits over the pill with deaths from blood clots reported as early as 2004 to 2008. The main concern is with the hormone drospirenone, Bloomberg said.
Shares in Bayer rose on the news that a settlement might be possible. Previously, shares had fallen 3.8 percent over the past 12 months.
