In a recent victory in the Depakote litigation movement, a jury awarded a mother from Minnesota $23 million. The mother claimed that her daughter was born with severe birth defects allegedly caused by the epilepsy treatment, Depakote. This is the first successful Depakote verdict against against Abbott Laboratories.

The jury reached its verdict after hearing the case of Maddison S. who was born with spina bifida. The Depakote lawsuit alleged that Maddison developed spina bifida after being exposed to Depakote in her mother’s womb.

Depakote Birth Defects Include Spina Bifida

Depakote is one of the most popular anti-seizure medications in the United States, primarily prescribed to treat bipolar disorder and other severe forms of epilepsy. In 1983, it was approved by the FDA to also treat migraines.

For years, epilepsy patients, including pregnant women, have been relying on Depakote to keep their seizures under control. Unfortunately, Depakote has been associated with severe birth defects, with spina bifida being one of the most common birth defects associated with Depakote. The FDA classified Depakote as a category D pregnancy risk due to the high likelihood of causing serious and potentially fatal birth defects.

Depakote seems to have a particular tendency to cause the spinal disruption (or spina bifida) in unborn fetuses. In 2010, a medical study found that Depakote significantly increased the risks of birth defects in unborn babies. The study cited data indicating that Depakote increases a child’s risk of neural tube damage at a rate of 30 to 80 times more often when compared to children whose mothers did not take Depakote.

This is significant because spina bifida is a neural tube defect that occurs when a malformation causes the spinal cord to not properly fuse or partially close. This occurs most often during the first trimester of pregnancy, often resulting in paralysis, limited mobility functioning, decreased intelligence, bladder control issues, and other complications.

While Depakote has been shown to increase the risks of spina bifida, medical experts are not sure about the exact cause of this birth defect. However, most doctors believe that it is a combination of genetic and environmental factors, such as family history of neural tube defects and folic acid deficiency. However, medical experts note that women with no history of spina bifida could also give birth to a child with the birth defect.

Additionally, other scientific inquires imply that taking certain medications like Depakote during the first trimester of pregnancy significantly increases the chances of spina bifida.

The severity of spina bifida depends on the size and location of the neural tube defect, whether or not skin covers the affected area, and how spinal nerves develop in that affected area. Regardless of the severity, any child born with spina bifida will have to deal with lifelong consequences and will require the assistance of their parents throughout most of their lives. Therefore, any medication (like Depakote) that may cause a birth defect like spina bifida should have a warning on the drug’s label.

Depakote Lawsuits

Maddison’s case is one of over 800 Depakote lawsuits Abbott is facing for birth defects related to Depakote. Many of these Depakote lawsuits claim that the drug company knew about the risks of birth defects, but deliberately concealed them.

Previously in 2012, Abbott paid $1.6 billion to settle federal and state Depakote claims, which alleged deceptive marketing practices. Abbott allegedly marketed the drug for unapproved purposes like dementia and also failed to make any mention of potential birth defects.

This has left numerous families and children devastated, as many women would not have taken Depakote while pregnant if they had known about the risks of Depakote birth defects.

The Depakote Birth Defects Lawsuit is Case No. 1222-CC-0247901, in the Missouri Circuit Court, St. Louis Division.