Prevention of Epilepsy: Issues and Innovations

Epilepsy is a common brain disease and preventing epilepsy is a very relevant public health concern and an urgent unmet need. Although 40 % of all epilepsy cases are thought to have acquired causes, there is a roadblock for successful prevention. Efforts to protect the brain from epileptogenic insults are severely hampered by our lack of biomarkers to identify the few percent at high risk meriting treatment among those exposed. Preventing brain injury has been moderately effective from around birth to middle age; however, the strategy has failed to stop a substantial increase over the last decades in symptomatic epilepsy in those aged 65 and above. The traditional concept of repurposing anti-seizure drugs used for symptomatic seizure relief to prevent the onset of epilepsy has completely failed up to now. More recently, however, hope is on the horizon with a search for biomarkers and discovery of a new class of agents, called anti-epileptogenic drugs, which were specifically developed for prevention of epilepsy.