January 28, 2008 13:37 ET

Attorney Shawn Khorrami Cautions That the New FDA Birth Control Patch Warning Needs to Go Farther: Ortho Evra Should Be Removed From the Market

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - January 28, 2008) - Although pleased that the FDA warned of serious blood clot risk to the users of Ortho Evra, the popular birth control patch, Shawn Khorrami, who carries one of the largest case loads in the U.S. against the contraceptive, contends that the warning is only one step closer to justice.

"While the label change is a step in the right direction, it's indicative of the systemic problems with the FDA," says Khorrami, who has filed more than 600 cases on behalf of thousands of women injured by Ortho Evra, manufactured by Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Company. "The bottom line is that this product should be taken off the market until Johson & Johnson can produce a product that does not place women's lives in danger."

The FDA announced this month that it would add the blood clot warning to the Ortho Evra label based on a new epidemiological study conducted by the Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, on behalf of drug maker Johnson & Johnson. The study looked at women aged 15 to 44 and found that users of the birth control patch had higher risk of developing serious blood clots than women using birth control pills.

Earlier in the month, reports from Canada cited two deaths, one heart attack and 16 cases of blood clots since 2004 among women who used the patch.

In 2006, Khorrami filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Ortho Evra on behalf of an otherwise healthy 25-year-old Maryland woman who died of pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis within less than a year of going on the birth control patch. At the same time, he filed a mass action suit against Ortho-McNeil on behalf of 43 women suffering from blood clots and other serious illnesses.

Khorrami, founder of the Los Angeles law firm Khorrami, Pollard & Abir and his co-counsel the Los Angeles law firm Kabateck, Brown and Kellner, have represented women around the country against Ortho-McNeil.