Epilepsy: Pregnancy

(asked on 2nd March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has for extending the MHRA and NHS Digital Medicines in Pregnancy Valproate Registry to include all anti-epileptic drugs.


Answered by
Nadine Dorries Portrait
Nadine Dorries
This question was answered on 11th March 2021

The Registry is being built around routinely collected data of all women in England who are taking National Health Service-prescribed valproate and identifies when they are pregnant and accessing NHS care for that pregnancy. Work is now ongoing to extend the Registry to include women in the devolved administrations. In the next phase of development, the Registry will be extended to include all girls and women prescribed an antiepileptic drug.

The conclusions of the Commission on Human Medicines’ safety review of the risk of physical and neurodevelopmental harm in children of mothers who took epilepsy medicines in pregnancy were communicated publicly to support decisions around the best treatment options for girls and women. These communications were via the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) Drug Safety Update bulletin, an accompanying public assessment report and a patient safety leaflet. A news release and social media accompanied the publication alongside email alerts that targeted relevant healthcare professionals, prescribing publications and professional organisations. The MHRA is also working with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Association of British Neurologists to update relevant clinical guidance to reflect the findings of the review. The impact of this review and the uptake of communications will be monitored.

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