Severe Birth Defects Linked To Pfizer’s Antidepressant Zoloft

Zoloft, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant (SSRI), has been named in a lawsuit that claims it caused a baby to be born with a fatal birth defect called anencephaly. Anencephaly is a neural tube defect, “generally described as the absence of a large part of the brain and skull,” according to the Zoloft lawsuit. According to a report from Courthouse News Service, the Zoloft anencephaly lawsuit was filed by Susan and James Hodge of Alaska filed their suit in Ohio’s Cuyahoga Court of Common Pleas. Defendants named in the complaint include Pfizer, the maker of Zoloft, and Cardinal Health. The couple accuses Pfizer of covering up studies that documented this case of anencephaly as linked to Zoloft birth defect.

According to research, women given Zoloft during the first three months of pregnancy may face a four-fold risk of giving birth to a child with a heart defect and twice the risk of a septal heart defect from Zoloft when compared to women not taking an antidepressant. The most common Zoloft heart defects for babies that have been found to occur are ventricular or atrial septal defects, which involve holes in the heart walls that allow blood to flow from the left side of the heart to the right, reducing the heart's efficiency. These holes in the heart walls from Zoloft can range in severity, but often result in the need for surgery for the child.

Children may face a risk of craniosynostosis from Zoloft use by the mother during pregnancy, which is a cranial defect that leads to an early closing of the baby's head. This can result in the baby having an abnormally shaped head because of Zoloft. Zoloft-induced cranial defects may cause pressure on the brain or leave the child without enough room for the brain to grow. Treatment for the abnormal skull development usually requires surgery, and the outcome depends on how many sutures are involved and whether other defects are present. A 2007 study published in the Harvard School of Public Health that drew on data from the Centers for Disease Control’s National Birth Defects study found that anencephaly was one of three neural tube defects most often associated with a mother’s use of an SSRI antidepressant.