Published 15 October 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4266
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4266

News

GlaxoSmithKline told to pay family $2.5m after jury finds paroxetine caused son’s heart defects

Janice Hopkins Tanne

1 New York

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A Philadelphia jury has found that the antidepressant paroxetine (marketed as Paxil in the United States and Seroxat in the United Kingdom) caused heart defects in a child, Lyam Kilker, whose mother Michelle David took the drug while pregnant. The jury has awarded the family $2.5m (£1.5m; {euro}1.7m) in compensation.

The trial was the first of about 600 US lawsuits that claim that paroxetine caused birth defects in infants born to mothers who took the drug while pregnant (BMJ 2009;339:b3967, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3967).

GlaxoSmithKline, the drug manufacturer, which is based in London, said in a statement that it "disagrees with the verdict and will appeal." The company said that although it sympathises with the child and his family, "the scientific evidence does not establish that exposure to Paxil during pregnancy caused his condition. Very unfortunately, birth defects occur in three to five per cent of all live births, whether . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

GSK is sued in US over alleged link of paroxetine to birth defects
Janice Hopkins Tanne
BMJ 2009 339: b3967. [Extract] [Full Text]

Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ