Pregnant Women Who Took Zofran Join Birth Defect Statistics

Boston, MADespite many studies conducted worldwide by birth defect researchers, along with exhaustive birth and prescription records linking Zofran to birth defects, the anti-nausea drug is still being prescribed off label in the United States to pregnant women.

For the past decade Zofran has been the most popular medication to treat morning sickness, and has made huge profits for GlaxoSmithKline. But the drug was never studied on pregnant women. Thankfully, however, women in Denmark who took Zofran during the first trimester unknowingly became statistics in Zofran studies.

The reason most studies involving drugs and birth defects are conducted in Denmark and Sweden is because these countries exhaustively track pregnancy outcomes and prescription drug use. Researchers are able to access Denmark’s National Prescription Registry, which indicates who is taking which drugs, and the consequences, if any. That is how a Danish research team was able to review about one million pregnancies between 1997 and 2010 to determine any adverse events. What they discovered should be made known to every pregnant woman and health professional...

Zofran birth defects - statistics

Women who took Zofran in their first trimester were 60 percent more likely to give birth to babies with heart defects. and more than twice as likely to give birth to children with life-threatening cardiac septal defects - holes in the heart. And they were twice as likely to have babies with cleft palate. Researchers in the United States in 2011 linked Zofran to birth defects, mainly cleft palate. And if those studies weren’t enough to stop Zofran from being prescribed off label, a study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (December 2014) concluded that “There is no reason for women to be exposed to a drug of unproven maternal and fetal safety..when there are safer options currently available.”

But the medication is still being prescribed to expectant mothers!

Why? Recent Zofran lawsuits point the finger at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Zofran attorneys are asking why the CDC - that has birth defect tracking programs in place in 41 states - did not warn the public sooner. These questions should be answered in MDL 2657.

Zofran lawsuits consolidated

As of December 2015, up to 160 Zofran lawsuits have been consolidated into a multidistrict litigation. In almost every complaint, the mother was prescribed Zofran off label and was never warned of birth defect risks. Every complaint accuses GlaxoSmithKline of hiding evidence that Zofran causes birth defects.

Attorneys are expecting that hundreds more complaints this year will join the MDL in Boston.