Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Eslicarbazepine (ESL)

It is always good to see new epilepsy medications being developed. This article from eMaxHealth describes Eslicarbazepine (ESL).

A new study appearing in the latest issue of Epilepsia shows that a new drug called Eslicarbazepine (ESL) shows promise as a treatment for epilepsy patients whose symptoms remain uncontrolled with existing medications. A once-daily dose was shown to be most effective, offering patients added convenience as current treatments can involve several doses per day.

The trial was conducted across 19 locations in five European countries: Croatia, The Czech Republic, Germany, Lithuania and Poland. Patients with at least four partial-onset seizures per month, in spite of treatment with other medications, were administered Eslicarbazepine doses ranging between 400mg and 1,200mg. The study demonstrates that ESL is well tolerated and effective when used as adjunct therapy for adult patients with partial epilepsy, fully eliminating seizures in 24 percent of tested patients. The occurrence of side effects was also low compared to other current treatment methods.

No age- or gender-related differences were found in the effectiveness of the treatment. "Our study shows that ESL was safe and well tolerated," says PatrĂ­cio Soares-da-Silva, co-author of the study. "We believe that Eslicarbazepine may have the potential to become an important new central nervous system drug not only for the treatment of epilepsy, but also for patients suffering from bipolar disorder and neuropathic pain."

2 comments:

Winston said...

The more the better. I really do like the idea of only one pill a day. Currently, Jack takes 5 1/2 pills in the morning. 1/2 pill after lunch, and then 13 pills in the evening.

Unknown said...

Ug, that is a lot. The most I ever got up to was about 10 a day.

Now I just do two meds twice a day plus the VNS.

Hopefully you will find the right combination for Jack soon.