American Association for Justice Responds to Topamax Warning
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It was Ironic that we recently celebrated the Fourth Annual Purple Day, or Epilepsy Awareness Day, during the midst of an FDA warning on Epilepsy drug, Topamax, or Topiramate, advising that women taking the drug while pregnant are more likely to give birth to children with cleft lips or cleft palates.
It’s horrible that something engineered to control the disease of one individual can be the direct cause of the deformities of another. Why should women have to choose between caring for their own health versus the health of a potential unborn child. Is it a mother’s duty to protect her child at all costs? How can her child be properly cared for if she is not looking after her own health?
These questions demonstrate the trust we, as consumers, put in the pharmaceutical companies. Chemists engineer these drugs that we believe will help us deal with our ailments. Reasonably, we do not expect them to make us worse off than before treatment.
Last May, Ortho-McNeil pled guilty and was fined $6.14 million by the FDA for promoting Topamax to treat psychiatric disorders, without applying for any approval. There was no data from any well-controlled clinical trial to demonstrate that Topamax was safe and effective to treat any psychiatric conditions.
In Response to the children suffering with birth defects, as a result of their mothers treatingwith Topamax, the American Association for Justice is holding a teleseminar Wednesday April 6, 2011 at 2:00 pm–3:30 pm ET This interactive seminar is open to AAJ Plaintiff Members and AAJ Paralegals.
Pennsylvania Mass Tort Lawyer, Thomas Anapol, will be among the experienced faculty presenting on injuries, causation, and warnings.
As these attorneys embark on this litigation, one can only hope that their efforts will bring us closer to an outcome with more rigid protocols and safer medications.