More and more companies are getting into trouble for marketing their drugs’ off-label uses to consumers and healthcare professionals. One of the more versatile of those medications, the epilepsy drug Topamax (topamirate), is causing a great deal of suffering.

Topamax is an anti-seizure medication that has gotten a lot of negative attention due to the drug’s serious adverse side effects, particularly birth defects. While the drug was initially approved by the FDA to treat seizures in epilepsy patients, it’s also being prescribed as a migraine treatment and weight loss drug. In fact, Topamax’ main ingredient, topamirate, has been used in a different medication that is being used primarily as a weight loss drug. Qnexa has been under fire lately after it was realized that topamirate causes birth defects in babies whose mothers take the drug while pregnant.

Topamax is also known to cause birth defects and many lawsuits have been filed against the makers of the drug amid claims that they didn’t properly warn women of the potential for their babies to be born with birth defects such as PPHN, oral clefts, cleft palate and heart, lung and brain defects. When Topamax was found to offer other side effects like weight loss, the drug started being prescribed for that purpose. The problem was that no one told the doctors that the medication was harmful to unborn babies. Because of that, the doctors continued to prescribe Topamax to pregnant women to treat their migraines and for other off-label purposes. To that effect, no lawsuit will feel like a good enough punishment to the drug makers who kept these side effects hidden. In the end, the drug companies are getting bad press while the lawsuits continue to be filed, but it is the consumers who are really suffering as they witness their babies struggle through various conditions that Topamax caused.

If your baby was born with birth defects after being exposed to Topamax in-utero, contact the attorneys at Greg Jones today for a free consultation. I am experienced at fighting Topamax lawsuits and may be able to recover money for your child’s injuries.