Pregnancy anti-depressant may cause baby heart defects
Filed under: Baby health — Alan @ 3:57 am
A US family from Philadelphia have won £1.6m in damages from a jury, after it was ruled that the antidepressant Seroxat, which is manufactured in Britain, was responsible for heart defects in their three year old son.
The drug is called Paxil in the United States, and its makers, GlaxoSmithKline, said that they would be appealing the decision.
Both the US and UK drug regulators have warned the public that Seroxat could be potentially linked to heart defects, the manufacturers do not accept responsibility for the heart defects in the young boy.
Seroxat is a popular anti-depressant drug among pregnant women, because doctors and manufacturers often claim that the drug is not harmful to a baby.
However, the Philadelphia case is just one out of a number of US cases, in which people have attacked the drug as the cause of other pregnancy problems.
Studies performed on the drug have found suggestions and trace evidence that Paxil may increase the rate of babies born with congenital heart defects, when compared to pregnant women who not use the drugs, or other SSRI depression medications.
Additionally, in a study conducted by a Welch professor, 16% of women taking Seroxat miscarry, compared to the national average of 8%.
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