Each year, Epilepsy Therapy Project (www.epilepsy.com) co-sponsors a conference in the USA or Europe that brings together experts to discuss future treatments for epilepsy. The report on last summer's European "Eilat" conference was just published in the medical journal Epilepsy Research (2009, volume 83, pages 1-43. It highlights 15 possible new drugs named: brivaracetam (ucb 34714), carisbamate (RWJ-333369), 2-Deoxy-D-glucose, eslicarbazepine acetate, ganaxolone, huperzine A, JZP-4, lacosamide, NAX-5055, propylisopropyl acetamide (PID), retigabine, T2000, tonabersat (SB-220453), valrocemide, and YKP3089.

Some of these drugs are so new that they have numbers instead of names. Others are likely to come to pharmacies within the next year or two, including brivaracetam, carisbamate, eslicarbazepine, lacosamide (Vimpat) and retigabine. Not included in the report are two more drugs, vigabatrin (Sabril) likely to be released soon in the US, and rufinamide (Banzel) available this month. Watch www.epilepsy.com for news about these compounds during their testing for safety and efficacy in controlling seizures.

This list provides considerable hope for those looking for a new AED when trying to control seizures. Many of these drugs work by novel mechanisms, different from the older drugs. In subsequent bulletins, we will highlight individual new drugs with more details. The message clearly is that ETP is focused on our target to support development of new therapies for people with epilepsy.

Updated 2/2/09
Robert Fisher, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief