Posts Tagged ‘ valproate ’

Infographic: Depakote Birth Defects, Off-Label Marketing by the Numbers

March 1st, 2013. By AbiK

Recently, a small British study that was published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry (1/30/13), suggested women who take valproate while pregnant have an increased risk of having children with autism and neurodevelopment problems. The study also suggested that damage to the fetus happens during the early stages of pregnancy.

Valproate-based anti-convulsants (drugs used to treat seizure disorders including epilepsy) include brand-name drugs Depakote, Depakene, Depacon and Stavzor–all of which are pregnancy risk Category D drugs. Category D drugs have shown positive evidence of fetal risk based on adverse reaction data from investigation or marketing experience or clinical studies in humans.

The Depakote infographic below highlights some of the potential adverse effects in newborns that have been associated with taking Depakote during the first trimester of pregnancy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: birth defects, Cleft Palate, Depacon, Depakene, depakote, Depakote lawsuit, depakote legal help, heart defects, spina bifida, Stavzor, valproate
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Prescription Drugs as Birth Control

June 8th, 2010. By Hunter West

Can a medication designed to minimize epileptic seizures, serve as birth control? 

Can an antidepressant, also serve as birth control? 

Indirectly, yes—if women who depend on various drugs to stabilize their lives opt to shun having children rather than risk the possibility of birth defects. 

It’s an interesting conundrum—that a society that depends more and more on various drugs to treat our diseases and keep us living longer, might suffer a detrimental effect on birth rates and experience a shrinkage of the population. 

But while the long-term effect may be less dramatic, the short-term debate is no less real. 

There are various drugs that are designed to treat specific conditions, such as valproate for the treatment of bipolar disorder, or migraine headaches. While the drug, marketed as Depakote, is without doubt effective for the treatment for that for which it was intended, it can also have a devastating effect on a fetus if taken by an expectant mother. 

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) noted in December of last year, “Valproate use during early pregnancy increases the risk of major malformations in the baby,” the FDA said. “The rates for neural tube defects in babies exposed to valproate during the first trimester are 30 to 80 times higher than the rate for neural tube defects in the general US population. In pregnant women with epilepsy, valproate monotherapy is associated with a four-fold higher rate of major malformations than other antiepileptic drug monotherapies. 

“Healthcare professionals should counsel women of childbearing potential taking valproate about the increased risk of major malformations…” 

A far more common drug is the SSRI antidepressant. Critics of antidepressants and the doctors who prescribe them, say that antidepressants are over-prescribed. While there is little doubt many individuals would not be able to get through the day without potentially doing harm to Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Antidepressants, depakote, SSRI, valproate
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