Oxcarbapezine: anticonvulsant profile and safety

Oxcarbazepine is a molecule chemically related to carbamazepine that shares most of the pharmacological and therapeutic effects of carbamazepine while displaying a more favorable profile regarding tolerability and drug-drug interactions. In contrast to carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine is metabolized through cytochrome P450-independent reductases, and is thus devoid of inductive effects on hepatic oxidative metabolism. Oxcarbazepine has been shown to be useful both as monotherapy and adjunctive therapy in patients with partial seizures with or without secondary generalization. The drug has been documented as safe and effective in adults as well as children aged 4-16 years. Additional data suggests that oxcarbazepine might improve cognition and psychomotor performance and might increase alertness, in contrast to the cognition/psychomotor impairment observed with some other antiepileptic drugs. Both the pharmacokinetic advantages over other anticonvulsant drugs and the lack of pharmacological interactions with oxcarbazepine may point to this drug as a first-line treatment for the management of partial and tonic-clonic epilepsy.(c) 2001 Prous Science. All rights reserved.