Novel pharmacological therapies in development

To review progress in developing new pharmacological treatments for epilepsy, focusing on agents in clinical development.

Over 30 different treatments are currently in clinical development, including novel small molecules, nucleic acid-based therapies, stem cells, microbiome-targeting bacteria, and repurposed drugs originally approved for other indications. Most of these treatments target rare epilepsies, particularly the developmental and epileptic encephalopathies, reflecting a development shift from common epilepsies to rare drug-resistant syndromes where unmet therapeutic needs are greatest. Most compounds are still in early development, and publicly accessible data consist mainly of conference reports and congress abstracts. For only two compounds (the K v 7 activator azetukalner and the inhaled emergency treatment Staccato alprazolam) has evidence of efficacy been obtained from relatively large, well designed randomized placebo-controlled trials.

New paradigms in drug discovery have brought to development innovative treatments with diverse targets and mechanisms of action. Many of these treatments are etiology-targeting and have the potential for disease-modifying effects. Although high-quality evidence is awaited, there is hope that over the next few years much needed life-changing therapies will be widely available for millions of people with disabling, drug-resistant epilepsies.