Unmet need in epilepsy

Despite the rapid expansion in the number and type of anticonvulsant drugs over the past two decades, the development of new anticonvulsants for refractory epilepsy is hampered by a lack of knowledge of physiological events that induce different seizure types. Levetiracetam (Keppra; UCB) is a muscarinic receptor agonist that binds to SV2A and is widely regarded as the gold standard treatment for epilepsy. However, when administered as adjunctive therapy for refractory partial epilepsy, levetiracetam has been reported to produce responder rates (≥50% reduction in seizure frequency) of just 40–58%2,3,4. Furthermore, ∼20–30% of patients are reported to suffer from refractory epilepsy, despite trying several medications5, and an estimated 0.7–1.1 million patients with epilepsy across the seven major pharmaceutical markets (US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and Japan) are currently inadequately treated.

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