Review of valproate use in pregnancy and women of childbearing age
EMA to consider risks of these medicines require further restrictions of use
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has started a review looking at the use of valproate containing medicines in the treatment of women and girls who are pregnant or of childbearing age.
These medicines are approved nationally in the EU to treat epilepsy, bipolar disorder and in some countries, migraine, and have been previously reviewed by the Agency.
An EMA review in 20141 resulted in measures to strengthen the warnings and restrictions on the use of valproate medicines in women and girls, due to the risk of malformations and developmental problems in babies who are exposed to valproate in the womb.
Although sometimes there may be no alternative to using valproate, these measures aimed to ensure that patients are aware of the risks of doing so, and that they take valproate only when clearly necessary. The 2014 review also recommended studies at EU level to measure how effective the proposed measures were. …more