On-Demand Pill Tackles Epilepsy

Researchers have developed a pill for sufferers of drug-resistant epilepsy that may treat seizures on-demand, much like how we currently treat heartburn or headaches.

As things stand, there are preexisting and effective treatment options for most epilepsy patients. However, according to The New England Journal of Medicine, 20 to 30 percent of the world's epilepsy patients do not respond well to these treatments, often proving resistant to their suppressive qualities.

New pills have now been designed to circumvent this problem - where cellular vulnerability to the medication is virally induced.

The pill - which uses an active ingredient called clozapine-N-oxide(CNA) - works in combination with a one-time injection.

According to press release out from the University College London (UCL), this injection is delivers a modified virus to the brain of a seizure victim that makes brain cells more susceptible to CNA. When a patient feels a seizure coming on, they can then take a CNA pill, allowing the active ingredient to trigger brain cells to produce a protein that suppresses the over-excited activity of brain.

A study published in the journal Nature Communications details how these experimental pills have already proven effective in rodents.

They are also reportedly safe, where a patient experience adverse side-effects can simply stop taking the pills.

"The modified virus has been disabled so it can't make more viruses and spread," lead author Prof. Dimitri Kullmann told Medical New Today. "The injection involves a minor surgical procedure to make a small hole in the skull and pass a needle through the lining of the brain, but this is far less invasive than epilepsy surgery, which can involve taking out a few cubic centimeters of brain tissue."

According to the researchers, they are currently investigating several feasible ways the CNA compound can be delivered if pills prove ineffective in human subjects. Injection, and even automated pumps - like seen used by many diabetics - are also viable options to deliver the seizure- suppressing drug.

The study was published in Nature Communications on May 27.