Houston woman sues Pfizer, claims birth control shot caused brain tumor

HOUSTON - Kayion Reed is suing Pfizer, claiming one of their popular birth controls caused her to develop a brain tumor. 

A life-changing diagnosis 

The backstory:

Reed says at 19-years-old, she began taking the Pfizer-produced birth control shot Depo Provera. She began to experience severe headaches and went to the doctor for an MRI during the time period, but the test was normal. 

The now 27-year-old continued taking the shot until 2020, about four years of continued use. Reed says her headaches worsened over time and, in 2023, she had an experience that urged her to go back to the hospital for further testing. 

"One day I was on the phone with my sister and my left arm went numb," Reed said. 

This time, doctors did find something: a meningioma. The benne brain tumor was about three centimeters in length, and she decided to undergo surgery to remove it.

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"I was scared, there were so many risks involved," she said. 

She says because of the placement of the tumor, surgeons weren't able to successfully remove it. She says the 16-hour surgery still caused her to temporarily lose her sight and ability to walk. 

As she recovered, her mom, Vickie Ralls, was doing research, trying to figure out why this was happening to her daughter. Ralls said she came across a survey on social media linking Depo Provera to brain tumors. 

"I reached out to Kayion like, ‘Hey, you might want to take this survey to see if this is where it came from,’" said Ralls. 

Shortly after, they hired Ed Blizzard and decided to file suit against Pfizer. 

The Lawsuit 

What they're saying:

Blizzard filed a suit against Pfizer on behalf of Reed in the Southern District of Texas. The suit alleges Pfizer failed to warn patients about Depo Provera's risk concerning meningioma, that the drug has a design defect in dosage and that Pfizer was negligent in failing to conduct proper long-term testing. 

"This is an infuriating case of a pharmaceutical company putting profit over patients," said Blizzard.

The lawsuit cites multiple studies that claim to have found links between the birth control and brain tumors. A 2024 national case-control study in France published in the British Medical Journal found prolonged Depo-Provera use increased the risk of intracranial meningioma by 555%. 

"Nevertheless, Defendants failed to warn, instruct, advise, educate, or otherwise inform Depo-Provera users and prescribers about the risk of intracranial meningioma or the need for monitoring for resultant symptoms," the lawsuit reads.

The suit also claims that warning labels warning of this risk are required to be displayed on the drug in various other parts of the world. 

"There are warning labels in Canada, Europe, the UK, New Zealand and Australia - but not in the U.S.," said Blizzard. 

Pfizer's Response

The other side:

FOX 26 reached out to Pfizer asking for a response to the lawsuit and the hundreds of other suits making similar claims that are currently active in the U.S. 

They responded with this statement:

"Pfizer believes these claims are without merit and will vigorously defend against these allegations. The Company stands behind the safety and efficacy of Depo-Provera, which has been used by millions of women worldwide and remains an important treatment option for women seeking to manage their reproductive health."

What's next:

Reed is now undergoing radiation to fight her tumor. She says she has to receive radiation treatments daily for the next six weeks. 

"If I had known a brain tumor could be a side effect, I would have never taken it. Ever," Reed said. 

She came to Houston after her time in the military to start her cosmetology career, planning to do makeup for film productions. 

"I wanted that to be my career once I got out of the military, but that was cut short," she said. She hopes she can continue chasing her dream once this medical nightmare is over.
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Blizzard says the legal case has been transferred to a U.S. district in Florida, where hundreds of other similar cases from around the U.S. are being held for pre-trial purposes. The judge in that district will hold multiple individual trials in the case and if a ruling is found, it will apply to the applicable cases transferred there. 

If not, every case will go back to its original jurisdiction for trial. 

"I've been told there are over 900 cases, less than a thousand currently, but lawyers suggest there will be thousands more," said Blizzard. 

Reed says her story and legal case caused Pfizer to put warning labels on the drug, or remove Depo Provera from the market altogether. 

"The situation is here, and I'm glad I'm the one who's going through it so I can prevent other ladies from going through what I'm going through," she said.