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Treatment with Zogenix‘s Fintepla (ZX008) provides a sustained and meaningful reduction in convulsive seizure frequency in young children with Dravet syndrome, with similar clinical efficacy to that seen in older patient groups, according to results from a long-term open-label extension (OLE) study. Fintepla’s use also holds the potential…

Managing Dravet syndrome requires a multidisciplinary approach open to both pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments, because of the severe nature of this disease and its poor prognosis, a review study reports. The study, “Dravet Syndrome: An Overview,” was published in Cureus. Dravet syndrome is a severe type of…

Neucyte and Trillium Therapeutics have established a license agreement to develop a new therapy for drug-resistant epilepsies, including Dravet syndrome and related disorders. The agent, whose name is still undisclosed, has shown promising results during studies carried out by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and…

Ovid Therapeutics‘ investigational treatment soticlestat (OV935/5/TAK935) was found to progressively reduce seizure frequency — by up to 90% — in adults with rare and hard-to-treat epilepsies, including Dravet syndrome, after one year of treatment, according to preliminary data from the ENDYMION study. Topline results from the…

Seizures in people with Dravet syndrome may be associated with abnormal serotonin levels and activity in the brain, according to a mouse study. These results shed light on the potential of serotonin-boosting therapies, such as Fintepla (ZX008), to reduce seizures in Dravet patients. The study, “…

Zygel (ZYN002) — a cannabis-based gel formulation developed by Zynerba Pharmaceuticals — can significantly reduce seizures by up to six months in children and adolescents with developmental and epileptic encephalopathies, according to Phase 2 trial data. Developmental and epileptic encephalopathies, or DEE, is an umbrella term that…

Selectively blocking NaV1.6 — a sodium channel known to be overactive in some epileptic conditions — may offer a way of treating people with Dravet syndrome, according to work in a zebrafish model. The study, “NaV1.1 and NaV1.6 selective compounds reduce the behavior phenotype in a…

Next month’s annual conference of the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) in Washington, D.C., couldn’t come at a better time, says Marshall Summar, MD, chairman of NORD’s board of directors. “The pace of discovery in rare diseases has gone from brisk to hypersonic,” Summar told Bionews Services, publisher…

The European Commission has approved Epidyolex (cannabidiol) as an add-on therapy to clobazam (brand names Onfi and Sympazan) for the treatment of seizures associated with Dravet syndrome and Lennox‑Gastaut syndrome (LGS) in patients 2 and older. This decision, which follows the favorable opinion of the…

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent warning letters to three companies that sell cannabis-based products containing cannabidiol (CBD), cautioning them that making unsubstantiated claims about the health benefits of CBD could lead to legal action. The agency “urges the companies to review all claims made for their…