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ACE Inhibitors

Do not discontinue taking any medications without first consulting your physician.

Blood Pressure Medication Linked to Severe Birth Defects

Certain blood pressure medications, commonly known as ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitors, have recently been linked to severe and life-threatening birth defects in children whose mothers took the drugs during their first trimester of pregnancy (1). The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has updated their ACE inhibitor patient safety sheet to reflect the findings, originally published in the New England Journal of Medicine (2).

Mothers who took these regularly-prescribed blood pressure medicines in their first trimester were nearly four times as likely to have children born with serious heart and brain problems than mothers who did not take any blood pressure-lowering medicines (3).  Many of these blood pressure medicines have been on the market for 25 years.

There are 10 ACE inhibitors currently approved for use in the United States.They are as follows:

Lotensin® (benazepril)
Capoten® (captopril)
Vasotec® (enalapril)
Monopril® (fosinopril)
Prinivil®, Zestril® (lisinopril)
Univasc® (moexipril)
Aceon® (perindopril)
Accupril® (quinapril)
Altace® (ramipril)
Mavik® (trandolapril)

If you took an ACE inhibitor during your pregnancy, and your child suffered a serious birth defect, contact a birth defect attorney at our law firm immediately. Our attorneys and legal professionals are skilled at handling these delicate situations and offer you a free and confidential evaluation of your case. You may call us or fill out an online consultation form to be contacted by our law firm.

ACE Inhibitors and Birth Defects
ACE inhibitors are commonly used to lower high blood pressure. About 8% of pregnant women develop high blood pressure during pregnancy. The Associated Press reports, “A national survey found that the number of ACE inhibitors given to women of childbearing age increased from 1.4 million in 1995 to 2.7 million in 2002, the latest data available (1).” The number of prescriptions is staggering considering ACE inhibitors already carry a “black box” warning—the strongest warning a drug can have. The FDA states, “ACE inhibitors can harm or even cause death to an unborn baby (fetus) if taken during the last six months of pregnancy (2).”

The study that exposed the danger these blood pressure medications pose to pregnant women in their first trimester involved 29,507 infants born between the years of 1985 and 2000. Major birth defects, including cardiovascular defects; musculoskeletal defects such as upper limb difficulties; gastrointestinal problems; centralnervous system defects such as spina bifida; and urologic defects were all discovered (3). Fetal exposure to other blood pressure medications during the first trimester, however, did not show any increased risk of birth defects, further lending evidence to the link between ACE inhibitors and serious health complications in newborns.

“We found there was a three-fold increased [overall] risk of birth defects to infants whose mothers took ACE inhibitors the first trimester, compared to infants whose mothers took no blood pressure medication,” said study lead author Dr. William O. Cooper, associate professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (3).

Every year, about 120,000 babies (1 in 33) are born with defects. Birth defects are the leading cause of infant death in the first year of their lives (4).

Free Consultation
The notion that your child’s birth defect could be linked to your FDA-approved, doctor-prescribed medication is almost too difficult to imagine. We trust medical professionals and government agencies to ensure our safety—and in this situation, the safety of our unborn children—but that is not necessarily the case.

Our law firm is committed to protecting the rights of innocent victims injured by the negligence of large companies and corporations around the world. If you or someone you know took an ACE inhibitor during pregnancy, contact our law firm for an immediate and confidential evaluation of your case. We want to help.

All drugs listed in this document are registered trademarks and are used here only to identify the products in question.

This law firm is not associated with, sponsored by, or affiliated with any of the drug manufacturers or the sources listed below.

Sources:

• ACE Inhibitors Linked to Birth Defects, by AP Science Writer Alicia Chang. Accessed 06/08/06 via Yahoo! News.
• Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitor Drugs (ACE Inhibitors)from the Food and Drug Administration Website. Accessed 06/09/06 via www.fda.gov.
• Blood Pressure Drugs Linked to Birth Defects, from The National Women’s Health Information Center, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health. Accessed on 06/08/06 via www.womenshealth.gov.
• Martin, J.A., et al. Annual Summary of Vital Statistics—2003. Pediatrics, volume 115, number 3, March 2005, pages 619-634, from the March of Dimes. Accessed 06/09/06 via www.marchofdimes.com.

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