New Seizure Medication Receives FDA Nod

The US Food and Drug Administration confirmed that it has approved Sunovion Pharmaceuticals’ Aptiom drug.

The US Food and Drug Administration confirmed that it has approved Sunovion Pharmaceuticals’ Aptiom drug for treating people who are suffering from seizures associated with epilepsy.

The FDA said that the drug has been approved for treating ‘partial seizures’, usually seen in epilepsy patients, after results of three clinical trials showed it to be effective in reducing frequency of seizures among epilepsy patients.

Fits | Epilepsy | Convulsions - Causes Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment FAQs
Fits or convulsions or Epilepsy is characterized by recurrent, involuntary seizures and is described as a chronic neurological disorder

The drug though has the same side-effects as other anti-seizure drugs, with symptoms ranging from headache, nausea, drowsiness, dizziness, double-vision, vomiting, and fatigue, while it was also found to increase suicidal thoughts among a small number of patients.

“Some patients with epilepsy do not achieve satisfactory seizure control from existing treatments. It is important we continue to make new treatment options available to patients”, Dr Eric Bastings from FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research said.

Source-Medindia

Convulsions / Seizures / Fits - Symptom Evaluation
Seizure or a convulsion is a result of abnormal electrical activity in the brain. If there are two or more unprovoked seizures at an interval of at least 24 hours, it is referred to as epilepsy.

Neurocysticercosis / Cysticercosis of Brain / Pork Tapeworm - Causes Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment FAQs
Neurocysticercosis or Cysticercosis of brain is the most common cause of epilepsy and the most common parasitic infection of the brain. Neurocysticercosis is more common in the developing countries.