The makers of Depo-Provera face a growing number of lawsuits alleging that the birth control shot increases the risk of brain tumors, which can cause different injuries depending on where they manifest in the brain.
In a complaint (PDF) filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on February 7, Trish Stevenson, of Louisiana, indicates her Depo-Provera injections led to vision changes prior to her diagnosis of a meningioma brain tumor. She names Pfizer Inc., Viatris Inc., Greenstone LLC, Prasco, LLC, Pharmacia LLC, and Pharmacia and Upjohn Co. LLC, as the defendants.
Depo-Provera is a hormonal birth control shot that was first introduced in 1992, containing a synthetic form of the hormone progesterone, known as medroxyprogesterone. Following decades of advertisements that promoted the quarterly injection as a safe means of preventing pregnancy, Depo-Provera has been widely used by more than 70 million women in the U.S.
However, studies published last year raised concerns about the safety of the birth control shot, warning that Depo-Provera causes meningioma brain tumors to develop in some women, which can be life-threatening and often require surgical intervention.
Since then, about 70 women have filed lawsuits over the side effects of Depo-Provera and vision changes, speech problems and other brain functions, which tumors can disrupt based on their location in the brain.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated all Depo-Provera lawsuits filed in federal courts into a multidistrict litigation (MDL) before U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers in the Northern District of Florida for coordinated pretrial proceedings, where the parties will conduct discovery into common issues raised in the litigation, and decide various pretrial motions that may impact large numbers of individual cases.