For years, Zofran has been marketed as a way to treat the symptoms of morning sickness, a use that was never FDA approved. The makers of Zofran, GlaxoSmithKline LLC, mounted a marketing campaign to get doctors to prescribe the drug for additional uses, hoping to maximize profit. Seeing an opportunity, GlaxoSmithKline encouraged doctors to prescribe Zofran to pregnant mothers for nausea and morning sickness…with disastrous consequences.
Studies have found that pregnant women taking Zofran face double the rate of some birth defects. Our attorneys at John Foy & Associates are outraged by this pharmaceutical company’s blatant disregard for mothers and their children. If you want to discuss your legal options, please call us at 404-400-4000 for a free and private consultation.
Why Would Zofran Be Prescribed During Pregnancy?
Zofran was originally developed as an anti-nausea and anti-vomiting drug to help patients who are being treated with chemotherapy. You can see how such a drug would have great value to these patients, but they are not expected to get pregnant. The drug trials did not include the effects this would have on a fetus in utero.
Zofran has been used in hospitals and at home to treat nausea in pregnant women. There was no FDA-approved prescription for what is benignly called “morning sickness.”
This is not the first time GlaxoSmithKline has taken chances with Zofran and other drugs. In 1999, the FDA warned the company to change misleading promotional materials that did not mention Zofran’s side effects. And in 2012, GlaxoSmithKline pleaded guilty to three criminal charges involving misbranding its drugs and failing to report safety data, and the company paid $3 billion in fines and for associated civil lawsuits.
Why Would a Physician Prescribe Something Not Originally Meant for Pregnancy?
Off-label means that a medication is prescribed for something other than what the FDA approved it for. A physician is allowed to prescribe medications at his or her discretion, and some reports state that one out of five prescriptions is off-label. At times these off-label uses are for people outside the age or sex group for which the drug has been tested.
Physicians are busy people and often rely on what a drug manufacturer representative recommends. Nausea during pregnancy is very difficult on the mother and doctors may think they are helping out with this medicine.
If You Took Zofran During Pregnancy and Your Child Was Born With a Birth Defect, do You Have a Case Against the Manufacturer?
Yes. If you took Zofran during pregnancy and your child was born with a birth defect, you have two choices–either joining a class-action lawsuit or filing a separate personal injury claim against the manufacturer. Both suits have their advantages. A class-action lawsuit is designed to represent the largest number of victims to fight a large entity. A personal injury lawsuit is what it sounds like—your sole claim alone against the manufacturer.
Either way, John Foy & Associates can represent you. Our defective drug attorneys can consult with you and decide which is the wiser claim for your situation. And we can represent you and your child throughout the process.
Give us a call at 404-400-4000 to discuss your options.
Types of Birth Defects Connected to the Use of Zofran
If your child suffered from any of the following birth defects, Zofran may be the cause:
- Heart defects
- Cleft lip
- Cleft palate
Is Your Child a Separate Plaintiff in a Zofran Birth Defect Lawsuit?
You and your child would be separate plaintiffs in a Zofran Birth Defect case. If there is a settlement for your child, it may be set up as a legal trust so that your child’s interests are protected as he or she receives medical treatment.
Why Can’t You Sue the Manufacturer Without a Lawyer?
A class-action case is designed to allow a large number of people, “a class”, to fight one entity. The judge usually will assign a major law firm to represent the people and one or two clients are chosen as the representative plaintiff. Any settlement is distributed among all the plaintiffs using a formula set up by the court.
You can join a class-action lawsuit by yourself, but we urge you to hire a local attorney who can represent your needs and stay abreast of the case. If you want to sue a manufacturer by yourself we urge you to hire an experienced law firm that knows how to go up against a cadre of well-paid attorneys.
There is no charge for you for either kind of case. In a class action case the judge awards attorney fees. In a personal injury claim, the attorney fees are paid out of the settlement. If there is no settlement, there is no fee.
Common Grounds Listed in Zofran Birth Defect Lawsuits
Some of the claims we have incorporated into birth defect lawsuits for former Zofran users include:
- Zofran’s legal obligation to ensure their product was safe before distributing it
- Zofran’s failure to warn the public once they realized the risks associated with the drug
- The false claim that Zofran was safe for pregnant women to use, including the misrepresentation of animal studies
- The manufacture of a defective drug
- The marketing of Zofran as a safe alternative treatment for conditions like morning sickness and hyperemesis gravidarum
We can include these as grounds for your claim as well. Contact us today to learn more.
How Can John Foy & Associates Help With a Zofran Birth Defect Lawsuit?
John Foy & Associates has built its business over the last 20 years helping people who have been injured by someone else’s negligence. What is more negligent than a pharmaceutical company preying on the sick and helpless?
We are one of Atlanta’s most established and well-respected law firms and we are that way because we operate in an ethical and respectful manner towards our clients. We are not afraid to go up against any size firm.
You’ve already been through a stressful pregnancy and now you have to be extraordinary to help your child. Let us help you. Give us a call at 404-400-4000 and find out how we can help.