Developmental Delays Linked to Paxil and Pregnancy
A Danish study that appears in the March issue of Pediatrics reveals that babies of women who took antidepressants such as Paxil experienced some developmental delays, Health Day reports.
The study, which looked at data from 81,000 births in Denmark, concluded that mothers who were prescribed antidepressants in the second or third trimester were more likely to have babies who sat 16 days later, walked one month later and were less able to occupy themselves for 15 minutes at 19 months of age than the children of mothers who did take the drugs. The delays were most pronounced in boys.
The majority of the mothers who were prescribed antidepressants received serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa and Paxil.
In addition to the latest news about development delays, Paxil has also been linked to birth defects.
Paxil, a GlaxoSmithKline drug, has been linked to persistent pulmonary hypertension in newborns, a rare, life-threatening condition that affects the baby’s heart and lungs.
Paxil was introduced to the U.S. market in 1992. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration gave the antidepressant a category B rating for pregnant women – meaning that animal testing failed to demonstrate a risk to the fetus. However, Glaxo never studied the safety of the drug in humans even though animal testing in 1980 raised the possibility that it could be linked to birth defects.
It wasn’t until 2005 that the FDA reclassified Paxil as a Category D drug meaning that studies in pregnant women demonstrated a fetal risk.
There are currently about 600 Paxil birth defect lawsuits nationwide pending against Paxil. In October 2009, a Philadelphia jury concluded that Glaxo negligently failed to warn a pregnant woman’s doctor about Paxil’s birth defect risks and concluded that Paxil caused her newborn’s heart defects and awarded the family $2.5 million.
If you or a loved one has experienced a Paxil birth defect, contact the attorneys of Carey Danis & Lowe. We can help. Carey Danis & Lowe is a national law firm that represents individuals injured by America’s largest corporations.
