Thomas Stoehr | PubMed Health

PubMed2007

Lacosamide.

Lacosamide is a new chemical entity being investigated as an adjunctive treatment for epilepsy, as well as monotherapy for diabetic neuropathic pain. Lacosamide appears to have a dual mode of action: selective enhancement of sodium channel inactivation and modulation of collapsin response mediator protein-2. Rapidly and completely absorbed after oral administration, lacosamide has an elimination half-life of approximately 13 hours and a low potential for drug interactions. Additionally, lacosamide exhibits linear, dose-proportional pharmacokinetics with low intra- and interpatient variability. Randomized controlled trials of adjunctive lacosamide (200, 400, and 600 mg/day) have demonstrated statistically significant reduction in median seizure frequency compared with placebo. In addition, 50% responder rates for lacosamide (400 and 600 mg/day) were statistically superior to placebo. The most frequently reported adverse events (> or =10% of lacosamide-treated patients) included dizziness, headache, and nausea. A double-blind, double-dummy randomized trial of intravenous lacosamide (30- and 60-minute infusion) as replacement for oral lacosamide showed that the safety and tolerability profiles were comparable for intravenous and oral lacosamide. The efficacy and safety results from completed clinical trials, as well as the favorable pharmacokinetic profile, suggest that lacosamide may represent a significant advance in antiepileptic drug therapy.

Acetamides↗

PubMed2006

Effects of the novel antiepileptic drug lacosamide on the development of amygdala kindling in rats.

PURPOSE: The current treatment of epilepsy focuses exclusively on the prophylaxis or suppression of seizures and thus provides merely a symptomatic treatment, without clear influence on the course of the disease. There is a need for new drugs that act at different molecular targets than currently available antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) and for new therapies designed to block the process of epileptogenesis. In recent years, different research lines have examined the epileptogenic process in order to understand the different stages in this process, and with the hope that early recognition and intervention could prevent the development or progression of epilepsy. In animals, acquired epilepsy is studied most commonly with the kindling model and status epilepticus models. In the present study, we used the kindling model to evaluate whether the novel AED lacosamide affects kindling-induced epileptogenesis. This drug does not seem to act by any of the mechanisms of currently available AEDs, but the exact molecular mechanisms of action of lacosamide have not yet been clarified. METHODS: Groups of 9-10 rats were treated with either vehicle or different doses of lacosamide (3, 10, or 30 mg/kg/day) over 22-23 days during amygdala kindling. RESULTS: Daily administration of lacosamide during kindling acquisition produced a dose-dependent effect on kindling development. While the drug was inactive at 3 mg/kg/day, significant retardation of kindling was observed at 10 mg/kg/day, by which the average number of stimulations to reach kindling criterion was increased by >90%. A significant inhibitory effect on kindling acquisition was also observed with 30 mg/kg/day, but this dose of lacosamide was associated with adverse effects. CONCLUSIONS: The present data demonstrate that lacosamide, in addition to exerting anticonvulsant activity, has the potential to retard kindling-induced epileptogenesis. Whether this indicates that lacosamide possesses antiepileptogenic or disease-modifying potential needs to be further evaluated, including studies in other models of acquired epilepsy.

Acetamides↗