The High Court has approved two settlements totalling almost €18m for two young boys whose mother was given the epilepsy drug Epilim while she was pregnant.

A woman who claims her children had birth defects because of the epilepsy drug Epilim starts a new campaign after losing funds for her legal battle last year.

Of the children whose pregnant mothers took an epilepsy drug, 64 were exposed to Epilim, 44 to GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Lamictal, 76 to Novartis AG's Tegretol and 65 to other epilepsy treatments.

Families involved in last year's legal action had claimed Epilim, or sodium valproate, caused a range of birth defects which they said included spina bifida, heart damage, learning difficulties ...