Pregnant women who take valproate sodium, a widely used psychiatric and epilepsy medication (sold under the commercial names Depakote, Depakene and Depacon) run a higher risk than women who take other anti-seizure drugs that the child exposed in utero to the medication will suffer developmental delays, the FDA warned Thursday.
The medication, used to control seizures and migraine headaches and in treatment of bipolar disorder and other psychiatric illnesses, is one of four epilepsy medications, including carbamazepine (Tegretol or Carbatrol), phenytoin (Dilantin or Phenytek) and lamotrigine (Lamictal) whose safety to developing fetuses has been under a microscope in recent years. While uncontrolled seizures could pose far greater risks to fetuses, all four medications are suspected of raising the risk of major malformations, including neural tube defects, in babies exposed in utero. But valproate sodium has emerged with some consistency as possibly the least safe for pregnant women to take, according to recent studies.
