Post hoc studies of Zebinix (eslicarbazepine acetate) show benefits in epilepsy- Bial

New data reports that when Zebinix (eslicarbazepine acetate), from Bial, was used as an add-on to antiepileptic monotherapy in 45 people with partial-onset seizures, who had a documented non-response to carbamazepine, after 6 months, the retention rate was 88.9%. The post hoc subgroup analysis examined data from the EPOS (Eslicarbazepine acetate in Partial-Onset Seizure) study programme, a multicentre evaluation of 247 people with partial-onset seizures across eight European countries over six months. Responder rates and seizure freedom rates in the eslicarbazepine acetate arm were 95.1% and 33.3% respectively. Mean QOLIE-10 score decreased from 2.8 (n=21) at baseline to 2.2 after 6 months. A decreasing QOLIE-10 score is a measure of improvement in quality of life.

A further post-hoc analysis of the EPOS study was conducted to evaluate eslicarbazepine acetate as an add-on treatment to antiepileptic monotherapy for people with partial-onset seizures aged 60 and over. After six months of treatment with eslicarbazepine acetate, retention, responder and seizure freedom rates were 78.0%, 83.3 and 56.3% respectively. Other assessments in this analysis included patient-rated quality of life, where a mean QOLIE-10 score decreased from 2.7 (n=28) at baseline to 2.2 after six months. Data were reported at The American Epilepsy Society 69th Annual Meeting.