Celexa Heart Defects in Newborns

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Celexa is a brand name for Citalopram, a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI). SSRIs work by raising or restoring serotonin levels and relieving depression. Celexa is used to treat patients, including pregnant women, with major depressive disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Recent studies now indicate that Celexa can increase the risk of coronary birth defects when taken by pregnant women. One study, by researchers in the U.S. and Denmark, compared 1,054 women who took SSRIs in the first three months of pregnancy with 150,000 others not on the drug. The study determined that women using the Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) in the first 12 weeks of gestation - when many may not know they are pregnant - have a 40 per cent greater risk of their baby suffering malformations. Heart defects are 60 per cent more likely.

Celexa was developed by the Danish pharmaceutical firm, H. Lundbeck A/S and was introduced into the US market by Forest Laboratories and Parke-Davis in September 1998.

Currently in Kentucky, the first Celexa birth defects lawsuit alleges that Forest Laboratories has engaged in "repeated and persistent fraud" by misrepresenting, concealing and otherwise failing to disclose information concerning the safety and effectiveness of Celexa in treating pregnant women.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff in the case was prescribed Celexa during her first trimester of pregnancy and as a result, her baby was born with serious heart birth defects. Her son, born in May 2006, was diagnosed with Shone's Complex, a form of congenital heart disease that consists of multiple anatomic defects that lead to the obstruction of blood flow from the left side of the heart to the body.

The lawsuit alleges that the drug maker "failed to warn the public and the medical community about the special risks of developing birth defects in newborns, cardiovascular defects, heart related birth defects, or other serious problems associated with the use of Celexa."

In May 2005, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh estimated in the Journal of American Medical Association, that in any given year at least 80,000 pregnant women in US are prescribed SSRIs, including Celexa.

Celexa Birth Defects Articles

Celexa Allegedly Caused PPHN
Little Gavin Shore has endured a lot. Since he was born almost a year ago with persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN) and Shone's complex, Gavin has spent much of his short life in hospital. He also endures monthly doctor's visits and will require at least one more surgery. His mother Lacee Shore, blames Celexa, an anti-depressant drug she took while pregnant.

Celexa Heart Birth Defects

If you took Celexa while pregnant, and your baby was born with heart defects, please click below to send your case to a lawyer who will review it at no cost.