Pfizer Sued as Study Shows Depo-Provera Birth Control Drug May Cause Brain Tumors
- by Carolyn Hendler, JD
- Published
- Environment
According to a California lawsuit, Depo-Provera, a birth control injection may cause or substantially contribute to brain tumors. Kristen Schmidt has filed a lawsuit alleging that Pfizer, Viatris, Greenstone, Prasco Labs and Pharmacia and Upjohn (“Pfizer et al.”) failed to warn consumers that its Depo-Provera contraception and endometriosis medication may cause or substantially contribute to a certain type of brain tumor called intracranial meningioma.1
Schmidt had been using Depo-Provera for 17 years and suffered side effects ranging from dizziness, vertigo to headaches. In 2022, at the age of 37, she was diagnosed with a grade one and grade two Sylvian fissure meningioma brain tumor.2
The lawsuit contends that Pfizer et al. was aware or should have been aware that its birth control shot could lead to or substantially contribute to the development of brain tumors. However, the drug giant failed to warn consumers about this life-threatening risk.3
The claims against Pfizer et al. include negligence, negligent design defect, negligent failure to warn, breach of express and implied contract, and fraudulent misrepresentation. A jury trial was requested.4
Depo-Provera, which is given every three months by injection, contains medroxyprogesterone acetate. The progesterone containing medication acts as birth control by suppressing ovulation and thickening the cervical mucus which should prevent sperm from contacting the egg.5
BMJ Study Supports Lawsuit’s Claims
A recent study published in the BMJ found that the popular birth control medication may cause alarming side-effects. Looking at data from the national health care system in France, researchers found 18,061 women who had undergone surgery to remove an intracranial meningioma between 2009 and 2018. The women were divided into two groups, those who had taken medroxyprogesterone acetate, the active ingredient in Depo-Provera, and those who did not.
The women who had taken the birth control shot for a year or more months experienced a 5.6-fold greater risk of developing a brain tumor. While the vast majority of the brain tumors were benign, surgery may be required that results in the need to take anti-seizure medication. 28.8 percent of the women who underwent surgery for these type of brain tumors resorted to taking antiepileptic drugs after the operation. The overall mortality of the women who took the birth control shot, whether they had brain tumors or not, was greater than the women who did not take it.6 7
Brain tumors that follow taking medroxyprogesterone acetate tend to develop at the base of the skull and often leads to difficult surgeries. Although most of the tumors have been shown to be non-malignant, nearby brain tissue, blood vessels and nerves can be affected by the tumor and require the birth control user to get surgery. Postoperative complications include anxiety, depression and seizures.8 9
In 2019, injectable medroxyprogesterone acetate such as Depo-Provera was used by 3.9 percent of the some 74 million American women of childbearing age. In the U.S. one in five sexually active women have used the injectable form of birth control with medroxyprogesterone acetate during their lifetime.10 Depo-Provera has been on the market since the early 1990’s and has never listed any warnings about the risk of developing brain tumors.11
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