There is an ever-increasing list of prescription drugs found to increase the risk of birth defects, and new evidence shows that FDA should add some of the most common epilepsy drugs to the list.
AdverseEvents, Inc. a company that analyzes the FDA’s adverse drug event database says that 10 of the most popular epilepsy drugs in the United States have been found to have a large numbers of birth defect-related adverse events.
Carbatrol/Tegretol, Depacon/Kene/Kote, Dilantin, Keppra (and IR, Klonopin, Lamictal, Neurontin, Topomax, Trileptal, and Zonegran were found to have more than 25 individual birth defect case reports.
AdverseEvents is recommending that the drugs be re-classified to D class from C class, associating them with “positive evidence of human fetal risk”. Class D drugs are generally not prescribed to pregnant women unless there is no less risky alternative.
It is especially significant that the FDA re-classify these drugs because most epileptic women do not have the option of not taking their medication while pregnant. Are you on epilepsy and considering getting pregnant? What do you think of these findings? Please let us know by commenting below.
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