News

From sporting something purple to sharing graphics on social media, supporters are marking National Epilepsy Awareness Month (NEAM), observed each November to bring attention to epilepsy and its associated disorders, including Dravet syndrome. There are 65 million people around the world who live with the central nervous system…

Caregivers of children with Dravet syndrome in Sweden reported a number of factors, including fever, infections, physical activity, and tiredness could trigger a seizure in their child, according to a recent study. Families implemented a range of strategies to avoid these triggers, including avoidance of warm weather and…

Children and adolescents with Dravet syndrome with walking difficulties commonly experience impairments in functional mobility and greater restrictions in daily life activities, a study suggests. Its researchers recommend that physiotherapy be given patients to improve their gait, potentially allowing for better mobility in daily life. The study, “…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has expanded its approval of the anticonvulsant Diacomit (stiripentol) — when used as an adjunctive, or add-on therapy to Onfi (clobazam) — to help manage seizures in children with Dravet syndrome as young as 6 months of age. The infants must weigh…

There are close statistical associations between seizure frequency and the severity of other disease symptoms, such as language problems, in people with Dravet syndrome, a new study reports. “The significant relationships found between seizure measures and composite scores suggest that extended periods of seizure remission (whether expressed in terms of…

Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has approved oral Fintepla (fenfluramine) as an add-on treatment for seizures associated with Dravet syndrome in adults and children 2 and older. The therapy is specifically indicated for patients whose seizures are not adequately controlled by other anti-seizure medications. The approval…

Six months of treatment with the oral cannabidiol (CBD) solution Epidiolex among children and adolescents with Dravet syndrome or Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) was not associated with improvements in caregiver-reported quality of life or adaptive behaviors. That’s according to a small Korean study — though researchers noted that the…

Restoring the activity of Scn1a — the mouse variant of the gene that often is defective in humans with Dravet syndrome — suppressed seizures and normalized behavior in mice, even after symptom onset, a study showed. Notably, the improvements occurred in juvenile mice as well as in adult mice…

The first healthy volunteer has been dosed in a Phase 1 trial of BMB-101, Bright Minds Biosciences‘ investigational treatment for Dravet syndrome. BMB-101 is an orally available serotonergic medication, a class that modulate pathways associated with a signaling chemical called serotonin, that Bright Minds maintains could offer a…

Although the use of cannabidiol (CBD) is associated with reduced seizure frequency in children with Dravet syndrome, various cannabinoid-based products, including CBD, may be linked to adverse side effects in pediatric patients, a meta-analysis showed. Specifically, treatment with CBD may lead to an increased tendency for children to experience…