Lawsuits Against GlaxoSmithKline for Paxil Causing Birth Defects

Many pregnant women are warned to stay away from drinking, smoking and certain antibiotics and other drugs while they are pregnant due to risk of birth defects, low birth weight and death of their unborn child.  Many expecting mothers are never warned about the risks associated with taking certain anti-depressant drugs while they are pregnant.  The blame for this mostly falls on the anti-depressant companies who manufacture the drug.

A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was done in 2007 showed that the use of selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRI's) did not significantly increase the risk of most birth defects.  The study was very evasive and left many important questions unanswered.  Another study was done this year by the American Psychiatric Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that did very little to answer the questions that are a cause for concern such as "Will taking an anti-depressant while I'm pregnant cause birth defects to my child?".  The study gave general recommendations for pregnant women who are depressed but offered no insight or definitive answer to whether or not SSRI's cause birth defects. 

While up until now there have not been many studies that seem to link anti-depressant drugs to birth defects there is currently a lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline, manufacturer of the anti-depressant drug Paxil, for causing a congenital heart defect in an infant of a mother who was taking Paxil throughout her pregnancy.  This is not the first case against the company for Paxil.  This has not been the first lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline for Paxil.  There have been many other liability cases against the manufacturer, including one case that accused GlaxoSmithKline of withholding safety information about Paxil. 

In the case involving a boy who was born with a congenital heart defect GlaxoSmithKline’s attorneys have tried to defend them by saying that all tests that they performed on the drug before 2005 showed no connection between Paxil and birth defects and that since 2005 tests have been inconclusive with mixed results. 

The attorney representing the boy with congenital heart defects is presenting evidence that the company knew since 1980 that the drug may not be safe and that the drug Paxil may possibly cause birth defects if taken by the pregnant mother.   In 1993 the company destroyed documents which consisted of raw data in connection with the testing of the drug on animals.  In 1996, 1998 and 2000 GlaxoSmithKline withheld safety reports of adverse outcomes of mothers who took Paxil while pregnant.  The plaintiff in this case is also going to have her doctors appear in court to testify that if they had been warned that Paxil posed the risk of causing heart defects in expecting mothers they would have not prescribed the medicine for her. 

In December of 2005 the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) took matters into their own hands and sent an alert to doctors nationwide warning them of preliminary studies that suggests that Paxil may cause heart defects in infants when taken in the first trimester of pregnancy.  Regardless of this study a spokesperson for GlaxoSmithKline still refuses to admit that there is a connection between heart defects in infants if Paxil is taken in the first three months of pregnancy.
 
It is a very heart breaking experience for a parent to find out that their child is born with a heart defect but it is even more heart breaking to find out that the defect could have been prevented.  If your baby was born with a heart defect and you were taking the anti-depressant drug Paxil in the first trimester of your pregnancy the birth defect may have been caused by Paxil.  To speak with Frank J. Dito Jr. Staten Island & Brooklyn, New York and New Jersey birth defect attorney and injury lawyer to get your injury case started contact us at 718.979.4300 or fill out our web form and someone will contact you shortly.