Pa. Jury Awards Plaintiffs $3 Million in Topamax Birth Defect Case

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania jury has awarded $3 million to a couple who alleged its child’s birth defects were caused by in vitro exposure to Janssen Pharmaceutical Inc.’s anti-seizure drug Topamax.

The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas jury reached the verdict on March 7, awarding $1.5 million for non-economic losses and $1.5 million for future medical expenses. Judge Ramy I. Djerassi presided over the trial.

Kelly Anderson and her husband Brian sued Janssen, alleging their daughter Payton, now 5, was born with a cleft lip as a result of Anderson’s ingestion of Topamax during the first trimester of her 2007 …