Trevor Resnick, MD, on Perampanel for Secondarily Generalized Seizures

"Thankfully those patients who had been seizure free during the study sustained their seizure freedom during the open label extension study, which further supports the use of Fycompa in patients with secondarily generalized seizures."

At the American Epilepsy Society’s annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, Trevor Resnick, MD, pediatric epileptologist at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, spoke with NeurologyLive about the encouraging results from the long-term seizure freedom data on perampanel (Fycompa) that demonstrated its clinical impact for patients with secondarily generalized seizures.

The initial study, looking at the effectiveness of perampanel for secondary generalized seizures demonstrated a gratifying response in terms of seizure control, according to Resnick. The data showed that 53% of study participants experienced convulsive seizure freedom at 2 years and about 35% at 3 years, but Resnick explained that the major question was the sustainability of seizure freedom.

To address this, a post-hoc analysis was conducted to study the group of patients who were seizure free during the previous phase 3 study. The results of the study found that patients who were previously seizure free sustained their seizure freedom during the open-label extension study, which further supports the use of perampanel in patients with secondarily generalized seizures.

Resnick concludes that for both primary generalized seizures and secondarily generalized seizures, perampanel has an important clinical impact because there aren’t as many antiepileptic drugs available for generalized seizures, and this treatment, FDA approved as a monotherapy and for pediatric use, allows for an additional option for many patients.