The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved perampanel (Fycompa) for monotherapy treatment of partial-onset seizures (POS) in patients aged 12 years or older as of July 27. It was approved in 2012 for adjunctive use for POS and primary, generalized tonic-clonic seizures in patients aged 12 years or older.
Three clinical trials showed improvement in seizure control for the patients with POS taking perampanel, compared with placebo.
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons/FitzColinGerald/Creative Commons License
The drug is available in tablets from 2 mg to 12 mg and as an oral suspension formulation. It is taken once daily.
“Approximately one-third of people living with epilepsy have seizures that are not adequately controlled,” said Robert T. Wechsler, MD, PhD, medical director of the Idaho Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, in Eisai’s press release. “Having a new monotherapy option for partial-onset seizures that is once a day gives physicians and patients an effective treatment option that has the potential to make a difference in patients’ lives.”