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Celexa Heart Defects in Newborns

Celexa is a brand name for citalopram, a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI). Celexa is used to treat patients with major depressive disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. However, some studies have found a link between Celexa and birth defects when pregnant women have used the antidepressant. These Celexa-related birth defects can be life-threatening. Lawsuits have been filed alleging patients were not properly warned about the risk of Celexa side effects.

Recent studies indicate that Celexa can increase the risk of coronary birth defects when taken by pregnant women. One study, by researchers in the US 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 percent 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. It works by raising or restoring the patient's serotonin levels to relieve depression.

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 Heart Birth Defect Legal Help

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