April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Johnson & Johnson hid or altered data on the health risks of its Ortho Evra birth-control patch and flaws in the manufacturing of the device, lawyers for women suing the company claim in court papers. Lawsuits on behalf of 2,400 women claim high levels of estrogen released by the patch caused strokes, heart attacks, and blood clots. J&J, the world’s largest maker of health-care products, misled the Food and Drug Administration about estrogen levels before and after patch sales began in 2002, according to a filing April 3 in federal court in Toledo, Ohio.
