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A group of parents have filed a lawsuit against the makers of Zoloft alleging the antidepressant caused their children severe birth defects. The lawsuit was filed in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Pfizer Inc.
Using antidepressant known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, during pregnancy can increase the risk of various birth defects, whether the drugs are used early or late in pregnancy, according to two studies published in the past six months.
A new study, published in the January 12 issue of the British Medical Journal, adds more evidence that antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, when used during pregnancy, can increase the chances that the newborn will have a life-threatening lung defect known as persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN).
One in five adults in the United States suffered from mental illness last year, and women were far more likely than men to have been diagnosed with mental, behavioral or emotional disorders, according to a newly released government study.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is giving health care professionals the green light to continue prescribing a class of antidepressants to pregnant women despite a 2006 warning that the drugs may cause newborns to be born with persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN). The agency’s earlier warning was based on a study that showed an increased risk for fetuses to develop the condition if they were exposed to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) after 20 weeks gestation. Since then, the agency says there have been conflicting studies evaluating this risk, making it unclear just how dangerous SSRIs are to developing fetuses.
Clinical trials testing experimental and currently marketed pharmaceutical drugs help determine the medication’s safety and efficacy. This information is vital to policy makers and doctors, who generally read about these studies in peer-reviewed medical journals. But only a fraction of data from these clinical trails is ever published, a travesty that both “distorts scientific record” and puts patients lives at risk, the British Medical Journal warns.
More babies are born with birth defects in England and Wales than previously thought, according to a recent study from Queen Mary, University of London. At least 14,500 babies were born in 2009 with defects such as congenital heart disease, spina bifida and gastroschisis. That represents more than 2 percent of births, up from previous estimates of 1.3 percent. The data comes from five regional birth defect registries as well as two additional registries specific to particular conditions.
If you are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant, check your medications, says March of Dimes’ deputy medical director Diane M. Ashton, MD, in a recent article in The Safety Report. Some prescription drugs can cause a host of problems for both the developing fetus and the mother, including miscarriage, low birth weight, premature labor, placental abruption, fetal death, and even material death.
Parents of children with birth defects who were exposed to the antidepressant Zoloft during gestation are suing the drug maker claiming the mothers took the antidepressant only because they believed it to be a safe medication to take during pregnancy.
More evidence supports the theory that exposure to a class of antidepressants during the first trimester of pregnancy increases the risk for major congenital anomalies, particularly cardiac defects. A Finnish study conducted by the Teratology Information Service at the Helsinki University Central Hospital confirms the results of other research showing increased risks for specific birth defects in fetuses exposed to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, during gestation.
