William Rosenfeld, MD: Continuing Studies on Cenobamate

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The neurologist from the Comprehensive Epilepsy Care Center for Children and Adults, in St. Louis, Missouri, discussed how high rates of seizure reduction were seen in treating drug resistant epilepsy.

“What we also saw with that, which was quite interesting, was, beyond the 50% [seizure reduction rate], you also saw significant 75%, 90%, and even 100% seizure freedom, and in the maintenance phase about 20% were seizure free.”

Post hoc analysis from a phase 3 study presented at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) Annual Meeting, December 4–8, 2020, suggest that reducing doses of concomitant antiseizure medications (ASMs) led to fewer patients with focal seizures discontinuing cenobamate (Xcopri; SK Life Science).

The data, presented by William Rosenfeld, MD, neurologist, Comprehensive Epilepsy Care Center for Children and Adults, in St. Louis, Missouri, showed that patients who continued on cenobamate had greater decreases in mean concomitant ASM use (first vs last dose) compared to those who discontinued treatment. Dose decreases were mostly due to adverse events, mainly during titration or early maintenance phases when cenobamate doses were escalated.

NeurologyLive spoke with Rosenfeld to learn more about cenobamate and the ongoing studies being conducted to assess its efficacy and safety. Cenobamate was approved in late 2019 for the treatment of partial-onset seizures in 2019, but Rosenfeld believes these initial data show its potential for treating drug resistant epilepsy.

For more coverage of AES 2020, click here.