Too slow to warn: Sanofi indicted over old anti-epileptic drug tied to birth defects
Sanofi has been formally charged over Depakine — a decades-old therapy for epilepsy that causes birth defects and impedes neurological development when taken during pregnancy.
Evidence that the compound — sodium valproate — was associated with neurodevelopmental risks emerged in the latter half of the 20th century. In 2014, the EMA re-evaluated the drug, and a year later recommendations that practitioners should no longer prescribe the treatment for women of childbearing age or pregnant women were enforced.
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