Return to our main Topamax lawyers page.
The March 4, 2011, FDA safety alert for topiramate recommending that pregnant women not use Topamax because of the risk of birth defects like cleft palates is available here. More medical information on topiramate in general is available from the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. The newly updated warning label for Topamax is available from the company here.
Topamax has already been the subject of government investigations, lawsuits, and prosecutions. In April 2010, the manufacturer of Topamax, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, settled a False Claims Act lawsuit alleging the company improperly marketed the drug, and thereafter plead guilty to illegally promoting topiramate as a treatment for psychiatric treatments.
Topamax litigation is only in its early stages, with no multi-district litigation (MDL) program yet established and any “bellwether trials” (read more about those here; they help establish the settlement value of claims) years away.
You can also read some of my posts on this law blog about dangerous drug lawsuits in general, including:
- Lawyer Branding And The Race For Actos Bladder Cancer Clients
- Recalled Product Lawsuits Getting Harder, Children’s Tylenol Edition
- Failure To Warn Quiz: Do You Know Children’s Motrin Side Effects?
- In Defective Drug Design Lawsuit, Justice Scalia Defies The Tort Reformers
- “we can price these almost anywhere we want given the product profiles.”
- Wyeth v. Levine: The Supreme Court Rejects Judicial Activism for Drug Makers
- “Avoiding Mass Torts: Pre-Litigation Counseling” — Doing Good is Good, Hiding Evidence is Bad
- Tort Litigation Improves Drug Safety by Prompting Pre-emptive Recalls
- FDA Releases Names of Drugs on the Adverse Event Reporting System
- Big Pharma: Private Codes of Conduct as Evidence of Negligence
- Propaganda in the Courtroom: Pharma Edition