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Sodium valproate is the chemical name for Epilim/Depakote:
Action over epilepsy drug 'could rival thalidomide'Around 140 families who claim that their children were damaged by an epilepsy drug taken in pregnancy have begun a court action that they say could be "as big as thalidomide".
They say that 37,500 British children have "foetal anti-convulsant syndrome", a range of neural, behavioural and physical disorders, which they claim may have been caused by their mothers taking anti-convulsant drugs while pregnant.
Disorders include cleft palate and spina bifida, learning difficulties, behavioural problems and abnormalities in movement, speech, vision and hearing.
The court action applies specifically to the drug sodium valproate, which is only one of several anti-convulsant medicines. A trial date has been set for October 2008.
Many of the mothers were prescribed the brand-named product Epilim, made by Sanofi-Synthelabo. The drug was also available in unbranded generic forms. To date Sanofi is the only company involved in the action.
In order to gauge the scale of the litigation, the High Court has issued a cut-off date for families to apply to be put on the register of claimants.
David Body, of Irwin Mitchell, the solicitor handling the case, said it had 140 families registered but expected "some numbers" more.
The cut-off date for registration has been set for March next year but families need to contact lawyers by Oct 1 this year. Advertisements alerting families to the October date will be placed shortly.
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"We want to hear from any family with a child with problems whose mother took any anti-epileptic drug in pregnancy," Mrs Williams said.