Topamax Victims Has a Choice: Compensation Through A Topamax Birth Defects Lawsuit
A Topamax birth defect lawsuit could be one option mothers can opt to choose in winning compensation. These mothers are those who took Topamax , an anticonvulsant, in the past 15 years and whose infants are suffering with birth defects after birth. Ortho-McNeil, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, came to first distribute Topamax in the market in 1996 by an approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an epilepsy medication. However, the drug has been scrutinized due to studies linking it to birth defects. One Topamax side effect, according to the study, could lead to brain damage or worse, death by another Topamax side effect known as Hyperammonemia.
Nonetheless, Hyperammonemia is not the worst of Topamax’s side effects as far as birth defects are concerned. It was this side effect that prompted the FDA to issue a warning last March on the drug’s potential cause to harm the unborn while their mothers were taking Topamax during their pregnancy. The drug was also reclassified by the FDA to D from pregnancy category C.
The birth defects lawsuit could be a legal basis as Ortho-McNeil failed to promptly issue a warning that Topamax medication during childbearing increases the risk of infants to develop birth defects. Ortho-McNeil kept mum about the studies’ conclusion linking the drug to birth defects as published in 2008. The manufacturer only took action when it was required by the FDA early this year to add a birth defects safety warning label in its packaging.
One of the most popular drugs for epilepsy, Topamax contains Topiramate. In fact, beginning 2007 to 2010, record shows that about 4.3 million patients filled prescriptions for the drug. It is interesting to note how many patients could have taken Topamax without knowing the following birth defects associated with it, as follows:
* cleft palate
* cleft lip
* arm and limb defects
* brain defects
* Hypospadias
* heart defects
* lung defects
A child with oral cleft most probably needs to undergo a corrective surgery to gain a normal life. Affected mothers could win compensation for medical bills and other damages due to such birth defect through Topamax birth defects lawsuits.
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