Ill. Federal Judge Denies Abbott's Motion for New Trial in Depakote Case

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge has denied Abbott Laboratories Inc.’s motion for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial in a Depakote birth defect action, finding the evidence supported the plaintiff’s allegations that the label’s warnings regarding spina bifida and other birth defects were inadequate.

On July 19 order, Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois further found the prescribing doctors’ testimony backed the plaintiff’s allegation that a different warning would have caused the prescribing physicians to refuse to prescribe Depakote to his mother.

California resident Christina Raquel …