Tag Archives: birth defects

New study confirms the obvious: Babies of women taking antidepressants while pregnant have more health problems

Dr. Tessa Ververs of the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands and her colleagues found that of the children whose mothers had used antidepressants throughout pregnancy, three had to have a major heart procedure performed in their first year of life. That made them six times more likely than children whose mothers had never used antidepressants to need a heart procedure.

GlaxoSmithKline ordered to pay $2.5 for Paxil-caused birth defects in first of 600 such cases

It’s the first time a jury has considered claims that Glaxo, the U.K.’s largest drugmaker, knew Paxil caused birth defects and hid the risk to increase profits. Jurors in state court in Philadelphia deliberated about seven hours over two days before finding Glaxo failed to properly warn doctors and pregnant users of Paxil’s risk.

New Study: Antidepressants Linked to Birth Defects

A Danish study shows that the risk is greatest when moms-to-be take more than one selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant or switch SSRIs early in pregnancy. Babies born to women who had filled prescriptions for more than one SSRI had a fourfold increase in septal heart defects — a malformation of the wall that divides the left and right sides of the heart.

Judge orders Glaxo to provide emails between it and researchers regarding Paxil-birth defect connection.

A judge has mandated Glaxo provide emails between it and researchers who were looking into the Paxil-birth defect connection. U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner in Boston ruled “the plaintiffs are entitled to correspondence and documents between anyone at Slone and GSK about the study, its scope” and methodology.

On trial – Did drug giant GlaxoSmithKline know Paxil could cause birth defects more than 20 years ago?

The family of Lyam Kilker claims Glaxo withheld information from consumers and regulators about the risk of birth defects and failed to properly test Paxil. Kilker’s mother, Michelle David, blames Paxil for causing life-threatening heart defects in her 3-year-old son. Glaxo officials urged scientists to withhold information about Paxil’s risks from a paper laying out the company’s “core safety philosophy” for the drug, said Sean Tracey, a lawyer for Kilker and David, in his opening statement in the trial.