Drugs Used During Pregnancy and Lactation

In time of pregnancy, drugs are often required to treat certain disorders. In general potential benefit outweighs known risks, drugs may be considered for treatment of disorders during pregnancy. All maternal drugs not cross the planceta to the fetus. Some drugs that cross the placenta may have a direct toxic effect or teratogenic effect. Understanding the risks of drugs use in pregnancy has lagged being the advances in other areas of pharmacotherapy. The adverse developmental effects of pharmaceutical products are recognized to include not only mal formation, but also growth restrictions, fetal death and functional defects in the newborn. Drug that does not cross placenta but still harm the fortus. 1979, FDA developed a system determining teratogenic risk of drugs based on animals& human studies. Divided drugs into 5 categories (A ,B, C, D, X). This article provide clinical therapeutic guidance relating drug use in pregnancy.