Despite a "thumbs-up" from a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel on GlaxoSmithKline and Valeant's new epilepsy drug Potiga (ezogabine), federal regulatory review of the drug has been pushed back three months. The panel this week reviewed three clinical studies on the drug and found that it helped to control seizures when used as an add-on treatment in certain epilepsy patients. The only red flag was urinary side effects, which the majority of the panel believed could be mitigated by patient monitoring.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Sensio, Inc., of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, today announced a voluntary recall of the Bella Kitchen 5-quart programmable slow cooker. The slow cooker's control panel can overheat and melt, posing a fire hazard.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Sharp Electronics Corporation of Mahwah, N.J., today announced a voluntary recall of the Sharp 32-inch LCD TV. The TV stand's neck support can break and cause the TV to tip-over, posing a risk of injury to the consumer. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. This recall affects about 9,000 units. No accidents or injuries have been reported.
A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory board has given a "thumbs-up" to GlaxoSmithKline's new epilepsy drug Potiga (ezogabine), saying three clinical trials with patients taking the drug show that it effectively controls seizures when used as an add-on treatment in certain epilepsy patients. The main safety concern with Potiga is urinary side effects, which 11 members of the advisory panel said could be mitigated by patient monitoring. Two advisors abstained from voting on that issue.
Two high-fat diets - the classic ketogenic and a modified version of Atkins - can reduce and in some cases completely eliminate seizures in children with absence epilepsy, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Child Neurology. Absence epilepsy is a common seizure disorder that often begins in childhood and involves multiple daily "absent" staring spells. If developed during adolescence, it can lead to more serious generalized seizures.
Participants are being sought by a team of researchers who are working to understand the causes of epilepsy that seems to occur for no reason and why medications to treat epilepsy do or do not work for specific individuals. The study is called the Epilepsy Phenome Genome Project and is funded by a $15 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Soldiers who receive traumatic brain injuries (TBI) while serving in the war may be at a greater risk of developing epilepsy even decades after their brain injury occurred, according to new research published in a recent issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Post-traumatic epilepsy is the most common cause of new-onset epilepsy in young adults, with close to 30,000 new cases reported each year in the United States. The condition is a result of brain damage caused by physical trauma to the brain.
The number of Anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) has more than doubled in the past two decades, and several more medications are in development and expected to be on the market in the next three years. More choices in medication have resulted in fewer side effects, but that is not always the case when generics are introduced. Many of the new and emerging AEDs were outlined during the annual Epilepsy Pipeline Conference hosted by the Epilepsy Therapy Project.
Hundreds of people have fallen ill after millions of eggs contaminated with salmonella reached consumers. The outbreak is linked to eggs sold in four states, maybe more. Initially, the egg producer, Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa, recalled about 228 million eggs last week. However, yesterday that recall was expanded to include 380 million eggs. The company is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and various state health departments to investigate illnesses.
Multiple drugs and devices to treat seizures are under development or review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but experts continue to debate whether these new treatments get the industry attention they deserve when the annual number of new epilepsy cases equals that of breast cancer. A team of leading neurologists, companies, investors, press and nonprofit groups from around the world got a sneak peek at new treatments for epilepsy and discussed their pros and cons at the recent Epilepsy Pipeline Conference, hosted by the Epilepsy Therapy Project.
