Lawsuit: antidepressants cause birth defects

    Jurors in Philadelphia have decided that a popular anti-depressant caused the birth defects of a three-year-old boy from Bensalem.

    Jurors this week decided that a Philadelphia-based drug company withheld safety information about a popular anti-depressant. They found the drug Paxil caused birth defects in a Bensalem boy.
    (Photo:http://www.flickr.com/photos/hate/ / CC BY 2.0)

    Listen: [audio:091014kgpaxil.mp3]

    Three-year-old Lyam Kilker was born with multiple heart defects. Jurors in Philadelphia said the condition was caused by Paxil, which Kilker’s mother was taking while she was pregnant. They awarded the family $2.5 million dollars in damages.

    • WHYY thanks our sponsors — become a WHYY sponsor

    The family’s attorney, Jamie Sheller, says she won the case by finding internal documents acknowledging the risk to fetuses.

    Sheller:
    That was very damning – the own words of Glaxo Smith Kline, within their company. About what they knew, what they were hiding, what they were manipulating to the public and to the FDA.

    Glaxo Smith Kline did return a request for comment. According to a statement on its website, the company will appeal the case. This verdict was the first of hundreds of cases against the company involving Paxil that are awaiting trial.

    WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

    Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

    Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal