The identification of subjects carrying the HLA-B*1502 allele and the avoidance of carbamazepine therapy in these subjects was strongly associated with a decrease in the incidence of carbamazepine-induced SJS-TEN. (Funded by the National Science Council of Taiwan and the Taiwan Drug Relief Foundation.).

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Summary:Purpose: To assess the efficacy and safety of adjunctive levetiracetam (LEV) therapy in controlling partial-onset seizures refractory to other antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in a multicenter study in Taiwanese adults.Methods: Ninety-four patients aged 16-60 years with refractory partial seizures were randomized to receive LEV (n = 47) or placebo (47) for 14 weeks and composed the intention-to-treat (ITT) population. After the first 2 weeks, LEV patients had their dosage increased from 500 mg twice daily to 1,000 mg twice daily. A 12-week maintenance phase followed, after which patients switched to long-term, open-label LEV therapy or entered a 4-week phase of medication discontinuation.Results: All patients from the ITT population, except one LEVtreated patient with missing seizure-count data, were included in the primary efficacy analysis. The least square mean of logarithmically transformed weekly partial-seizure frequency was significantly lower in the LEV than in the placebo group (0.813 vs. 1.085; p = 0.001). LEV reduced log-transformed weekly partial-seizure frequency by 23.8% (95% confidence interval, 10.4-35.2%) relative to placebo. Significantly more LEV than placebo patients (43.5% vs. 10.6%) experienced a response of a ≥50% decrease from baseline in weekly frequency of partial seizures [odds ratio, 6.5 (95% CI, 2.2-19.3); p < 0.001]. Adverse events were reported in 34 (72.3%) of 47 LEV-treated patients and 32 (68.1%) of 47 placebo patients. The three most common adverse events in the LEV and placebo groups were somnolence (40.4% and 14.9%), dizziness (14.9% and 8.5%), and headache (10.6% and 8.5%), respectively. Only four patients (three LEVtreated patients and one placebo patient) were withdrawn from the study because of adverse events.Conclusions: Adjunctive LEV therapy, ≤1,000 mg twice daily, was significantly more effective than placebo and was generally well tolerated in Taiwanese adults with treatmentresistant partial-onset seizures.

Summary People of different ethnic or racial backgrounds may experience variations in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic responses to drug therapies. Our post hoc analysis evaluated the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of perampanel in Asian and non‐Asian populations with refractory focal seizures with or without focal to bilateral tonic‐clonic (FBTC) seizures. This analysis pooled data from 4 randomized, placebo‐controlled, phase‐3 studies involving patients aged ≥12 years who have focal seizures with or without FBTC seizures. Patients were receiving 2, 4, 8, or 12 mg perampanel (or placebo) by the end of a 6‐week titration period and for a further 13 weeks during the maintenance phase. Efficacy endpoints included median percent change in seizure frequency per 28 days, and 50% and seizure‐freedom responder rates relative to baseline. The median percent change in seizure frequency per 28 days from baseline was significantly greater than placebo for perampanel 8 and 12 mg (−31.1% and −38.1% change, respectively; each P < 0.0001) in the Asian population, and for perampanel 4, 8, and 12 mg (−21.1% [P = 0.0001], −26.3% [P < 0.0001], and −27.7% [P = 0.0001] change, respectively) in the non‐Asian population. The 50% responder rate relative to baseline was significantly greater than placebo for perampanel 8 and 12 mg (40.1% and 43.8%, respectively; each P < 0.0001) in the Asian population, and for perampanel 4, 8, and 12 mg (29.4% [P = 0.0002], 32.8% [P < 0.0001] and 34.5% [P = 0.0001]), respectively, in the non‐Asian population. Seizure‐freedom rate among all patients was 4.9%‐11.7% for perampanel 2, 4, 8, and 12 mg. The most frequently reported treatment‐emergent adverse events (TEAEs) across both populations were dizziness, somnolence, irritability, headache, and fatigue. The most common psychiatric TEAEs were aggression and irritability. Perampanel demonstrated a favorable and similar risk‐benefit profile in both Asian and non‐Asian populations with refractory focal seizures.

In the treatment of absence seizures, doctors have to choose mainly between two drugs: ethosuximide (ES) and sodium valproate (VPA). The situation is somewhat unusual in the field of epilepsy. There are two drugs of about equal efficiency (Simon and Penry, 1975) for about the same seizure types, but they are absolutely unrelated chemically; as similar as they are in their desired action, as much they differ in their possible side effects. With VPA, loss of hair, weight gain, tremor, thrombocytopenia, and rare but fatal instances of liver failure have been reported, and, more recently, there is suspicion of a teratogenic effect (Robert and Guibaud, 1982). With ES, no fatalities seem to have been reported, and singultus is one of the few common adverse effects. In quite a few patients, however, psychotic episodes have been observed, which were reviewed by Roger et al. (1968). As these occur at extremely different drug levels (Wolf, 1977) but are usually accompanied by complete or quasicomplete seizure control, they have been considered examples of “forced normalization” (Wolf and Trimble, in press)—an intriguing condition, the pathogenesis of which is still unexplained. This has not been observed with absence control by VPA (Wolf, 1976) even in patients that have had forced normalization with ES. Quantitative investigations of this difference have, however, not been reported, although they seem of considerable interest, as any significant difference between the drugs in this respect would be of high theoretical and practical importance.