Zofran Birth Defects Lawsuits Move Forward, As MDL Court Schedules First Status Conference, Bernstein Liebhard LLP Reports

October 28, 2015 - The multidistrict litigation established earlier this month for federally-filed Zofran birth defects lawsuits (http://www.zofranlawsuit2015.com/ ) is preparing to get underway. According to a notice issued by the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, on October 26th, the proceeding's first Status Conference will be convened on November 17th at 9:30 a.m. (In Re Zofran Products Liability Litigation – MDL 2657)

"Our Firm is investigating a number of potential Zofran lawsuits on behalf of children who allegedly sustained serious birth defects after their mother was prescribed the medication during the first trimester of pregnancy. We are pleased that the multidistrict litigation will soon get underway, and look forward to progress in the months to come," says Sandy A. Liebhard, a partner at Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationwide law firm representing victims of defective drugs and medical devices. The Firm is currently offering Zofran lawsuit evaluations to any family whose child may have been born with serious heart defects, oral clefts or other congenital abnormalities due to pre-natal Zofran exposure.

Zofran Birth Defects Allegations
Court documents indicate that 15 Zofran lawsuits are already pending in the centralized proceeding underway in Massachusetts. The litigation was established by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on October 13th to allow all federally-filed product liability claims involving Zofran's alleged association with birth defects to undergo coordinated pretrial proceedings. In addition to the cases now pending in the litigation, dozens of similar federal claims have been identified as potential tag-along actions and could be eligible for transfer to the District of Massachusetts. Any Zofran birth defects cases filed in federal courts in the future could be transferred there as well.

All of the Zofran lawsuits currently pending in the multidistrict litigation similarly allege that the medication increases the likelihood that an infant will develop a major birth defect if exposed to the drug during the first trimester of pregnancy. Plaintiffs also accuse GlaxoSmithKline of aggressively and improperly marketing Zofran for the treatment of pregnancy-related nausea and vomiting, despite never having conducted a single study to assess its safety in pregnancy. In fact, Zofran has never been approved for this indication by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

Zofran is an anti-nausea medication approved to treat post-operative surgery patients, as well as those undergoing certain cancer treatments. The FDA classifies Zofran in Pregnancy Category B, which indicates that its effects on a developing pregnancy have not been well studied. In 2012, GlaxoSmithKline agreed to pay $3 billion to resolve charges levied by the U.S. Department of Justice that it had improperly marketed Zofran and other mediations. Among other things, the company had been accused of promoting Zofran as an off-label treatment for pregnancy-related nausea and vomiting.

Children born with a major birth defect may be entitled to compensation if their mother was treated with Zofran during the first trimester of pregnancy. To learn more about filing a Zofran lawsuit, please visit Bernstein Liebhard LLP's website, or call the Firm directly at 800-511-5092.

About Bernstein Liebhard LLP
Bernstein Liebhard LLP is a New York-based law firm exclusively representing injured persons in complex individual and class action lawsuits nationwide since 1993. As a national law firm, Bernstein Liebhard LLP possesses all of the legal and financial resources required to successfully challenge billion dollar pharmaceutical and medical device companies. As a result, our attorneys and legal staff have been able to recover more than $3.5 billion on behalf of our clients. The Firm was named by The National Law Journal to the Plaintiffs' Hot List, recognizing the top plaintiffs firms in the country, for 12 consecutive years. Bernstein Liebhard LLP is the only firm in the country to be named to this prestigious list for a dozen consecutive years.

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Contact Information:
Sandy A. Liebhard, Esq.
Bernstein Liebhard LLP
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