Salt Lake City Drug Injury Lawyer
Drug Injury: WellbutrinŽ/ZybanŽ and Birth Defects
The prescription drugs WellbutrinŽ and ZybanŽ are used to treat depression and to help people quit smoking. The active ingredient in Wellbutrin and Zyban is a drug called bupropion (byoo-proe'-pee-on), which was originally approved for use in 1985. Bupropion is also used to treat seasonal affective disorder.
Wellbutrin has become a popular antidepressant, and accounted for more than 20 million prescriptions in 2007. Recently, however, a study linked bupropion use in pregnant women to heart-related birth defects.
Study Links Drugs to Birth Defects of the Heart
The study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology found that among more than 12,700 infants born between 1997 and 2004, those whose mothers had taken bupropion during early pregnancy had more than double the risk of heart defects, compared with infants whose mothers had not taken the drug.
The overall risk of these heart defects was small but still present in the results.
Various Forms of Wellbutrin and Zyban
Wellbutrin is available in the following forms:
- Wellbutrin (immediate release)
- Wellbutrin SR (sustained release)
- Wellbutrin XL (extended release)
Zyban is available as a sustained release tablet and is simply referred to as Zyban.
We Want to Help
If you or someone you care about took Wellbutrin or Zyban while pregnant and had a child born with heart defects, contact our law firm immediately to learn how we can help.
WellbutrinŽ and ZybanŽ are registered trademarks of GlaxoSmithKline and are only used to identify the products in question.
This law firm is not associated with, sponsored by, or affiliated with the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology or GlaxoSmithKline.
