Women that took Topamax during pregnancy may be eligible for a lawsuit against the makers of this medication. In order to qualify, they must have given birth to a child with birth defects in the last 15 years. The manufacturer of Topamax, Ortho-McNeill, is a part of Johnson and Johnson, and they began selling this drug in 1996 as an epilepsy treatment. More recently, research has shown that Topamax can play a role in causing a variety of birth defects. One birth defect linked to Topamax occurs when it is taken with another common ant-epileptic drug, valproic acid. Taking both medications during pregnancy can lead to fetal development of hyperammonemia. This condition can cause dire effects ranging from brain damage to death.

Many other birth defects have been linked to pregnant women taking Topamax, so hyperammonemia is not the only problem that expectant mothers must worry about. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration responded to these risks last March, when it began requiring warnings for women of childbearing age about the danger of birth defects.

The lawsuits filed against Ortho-McNeill for birth defects point out the fact that this company did not warn women about the risk of these pregnancy-related problems. Solid data has been available since 2008 that conclusively links Topamax use to birth defects. Ortho-McNeill did not make any effort to report these findings to consumers until the FDA forced them to, through the inclusion of warnings in medication packaging.

Topamax is sometimes called by its generic name, topiramate, and remains one of the most popular treatments for epilepsy on the market today. There have been about 4.3 million prescriptions for this medication written between 2007 and 2011. A small, but substantial, fraction of these prescriptions were for pregnant women. Some of the potential birth defects their Topamax exposure could lead to include:

• cleft palate or cleft lip
• limb deformities
• heart defects
• brain damage
• lung defects
• hypospadia, a developmental problem involving the male urethra

Of these deformities, cleft lip and cleft palate are by far the most common. Often, infants can require costly surgery to correct these conditions, because their presence can cause substantial breathing and feeding difficulties.

If you or a loved one has taken Topamax and experienced a birth defect, you need legal assistance to see whether or not you qualify to receive compensation for your damages. Please contact a personal injury attorney as soon as possible to schedule a free consultation. During the consultation you’ll be given all the information necessary to move forward with your case.