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Epilepsy

Perampanel—new promise for refractory epilepsy?

Nature Reviews Neurology volume 8, pages 661–662 (2012)Cite this article

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Three recent phase III trials have shown that adjunctive treatment with perampanel—a first-in-class, noncompetitive AMPA antagonist—decreases seizure frequency in patients with refractory focal epilepsy. Although the introduction of perampanel offers more treatment choice for epilepsy, whether it brings urgently needed clinical benefit over existing drugs remains to be addressed.

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Figure 1: Mechanisms of action of antiepileptic drugs.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank J. A. French for additional information on the perampanel trials, and M. A. Rogawski for discussions and advice during preparation of the figure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmacy, University of Veterinary Medicine, Bünteweg 17, Hannover, 30559, Germany

    Wolfgang Löscher

  2. Epilepsy Research Group, Goethestrasse 5, Berlin, 14163, Germany

    Dieter Schmidt

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  1. Wolfgang Löscher
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Correspondence to Wolfgang Löscher.

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Löscher, W., Schmidt, D. Perampanel—new promise for refractory epilepsy?. Nat Rev Neurol 8, 661–662 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2012.222

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