Modern Epilepsy Treatment 
Modalities Gain Momentum

New Drug on the Horizon

Brivaracetam is a pharmaceutical treatment for epilepsy that may receive FDA approval in the near future, Dr. Abou-Khalil said. Brivaracetam is chemically related to levetiracetam. In a phase III study presented last year at the 68th Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society, 768 patients with epilepsy and partial-onset seizures were randomized to adjunctive brivaracetam (ie, 100 or 200 mg/day) or placebo for 12 weeks. Both brivaracetam doses demonstrated statistically significant percent reductions in partial-onset seizure frequency per 28 days, compared with placebo. The 50% responder rates for brivaracetam 100 and 200 mg/day were 38.9% and 37.8%, respectively, compared with 21.6% for placebo, a statistically significant finding. The most frequent treatment-emergent adverse events were somnolence, dizziness, and fatigue.

—Adriene Marshall