Studies Link Depakote to Birth Defects

Depakote is an anticonvulsant drug prescribed to treat epilepsy, manic depressive disorder, bi-polar disorder, and migraine headaches. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has issued warnings concerning women who use Depakote during pregnancy because Depakote has been shown to cause serious birth defects. In 2009, the FDA warned that there was an increased risk of neural tube birth defects, such as spina bifida, and other congenital abnormalities in children of mothers who took Depakote and other valproic acid (VPA) based drugs.

In addition to these serious side effects, the FDA released a report in June 2011 that found children born to mothers who took Depakote and other VPA drugs had lower IQ scores and other cognitive deficits more often than children of mothers who took other drugs to treat epilepsy.

Last month, researchers in Australia published a study in Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, a Swedish-based international neuroscience journal. They found “statistically significant associations between valproate exposure and spina bifida, malformations of the heart and great vessels, digits, skull bones, and brain.”  

In February of this year, the Neurotoxicology and Teratology (NT) journal released a study showing that valproic acid based drugs like Depakote may increase the risk of having children with a decreased IQ and autism.

“The emerging clinical evidence showing a link between VPA [valproic acid] exposure and both cognitive function and risk of autism brings to the forefront the importance of understanding how VPA exposure influences neurodevelopment,” the study reported.

The researchers who published the study in NT looked at the effect valproic acid had on rats and mice, and found that their offspring displayed more autistic-like behaviors. This study and others like it point to a similar outcome in humans, but recommend that more research still needs to be done.

In January of this year, The Lancelot Neurology journal published a study online that confirmed the FDA’s report of Depakote causing a decrease in the IQ of children born to mothers who took Depakote while pregnant. They found that children of mothers who took Depakote while pregnant had lower IQ scores than children of mothers who didn’t take any seizure medication or took a different type of seizure medication. The results were the same when the children were tested at age 3 and again at age 6.

Depakote birth defect lawsuits continue to increase against Abbott Laboratories Inc., the maker of the drug, and there is no doubt that these studies will serve to make the case that Abbott should have known the dangers that this drug posed to the children in pregnant women who took the drug to treat their epilepsy, manic depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and migraine headaches.