Minister commits to anti-epilepsy drug inquiry
THE Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, has committed to holding an inquiry into the historical licensing and use of the anti-epileptic drug sodium valproate in Ireland.
Parents and children impacted by sodium valproate have been fighting for many years for an inquiry into the licensing and use of the drug.
Now, the minister has asked officials in his department to begin work on this as a priority, emphasising the need for a fair and fast inquiry.
Valproate-containing medicines can cause birth defects and developmental disorders in children whose mothers take such medicines during pregnancy, and sodium valproate has been the subject of two recent reviews by the European Medicines Agency, in 2014 and 2017.
Mayo Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh has welcomed Minister Donnelly’s announcement of the establishment of an inquiry into the prescribing of valproate to pregnant women who were completely unaware of the likely impact on their unborn babies.
Speaking this morning, she said: “This has been a long and torturous journey for the mothers and families in their search for truth as to who knew what, when they knew it and why nobody did anything to prevent it. I welcome this announcement and look forward to examining the details.
“I am delighted for the families I have worked with over the past four years and commend the work of Karen Keeley, chairperson of OACS Ireland and Epilepsy Ireland. I commend them for never giving up and for the huge amount of work they have done in gathering evidence.
“We know up to 1,250 children born between 1975 and 2015 have been impacted here in Ireland. Some families have had a number of their children impacted.
“There are many questions to be answered. Families need to be fully involved with this inquiry and need to be satisfied that the terms of reference uncover the truth.
“We know a huge amount of work has been done in France that has led to the setting up of a redress scheme. A similar scheme needs to be set up here in Ireland.”