Advice call over epilepsy drug study

Posted: Published on March 11th, 2013

This post was added by Dr Simmons

10 March 2013 Last updated at 14:14 ET

Campaigners want the Welsh government to review the way the possible side effects of an anti-epilepsy drug are relayed to pregnant mothers.

It comes after a recent study revealed a link between the drug and developmental problems in children.

The Welsh government said it was not its remit and a UK government agency said it followed national guidelines.

Meanwhile, Newport West MP Paul Flynn told The Wales Report on BBC Wales that the mothers' plight was "dreadful".

Doctors have been aware of the risk associated with the anticonvulsant drug sodium valproate, known as Epilim, for decades.

But a recent study by the University of Liverpool also revealed a link between the drug and other developmental problems in children.

Joanne Cozens, from Caerphilly, is one of the 32,000 people in Wales with epilepsy.

She started taking Epilim as a teenager and continued during her pregnancy.

Mrs Cozens' 13-year-old son Tomas has Asperger's syndrome. She claims she was not warned of the danger to her unborn and says she would never have taken Epilim had she been told.

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Advice call over epilepsy drug study

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