New Data Presented on Drug Burden, Seizure Reduction, and SUDEP with Cenobamate

Several post hoc analyses of studies presented at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 2023 Annual Meeting, held from April 22-27, showed beneficial outcomes from treatment with cenobamate (Xcopri; SK Life Science, Paramus, NJ) including a reduction in concomitant antiseizure medication (ASM) use, favorable seizure reduction response rates, and rates of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) comparable to those found in community-based analyses. Cenobamate is an ASM approved for treatment of partial-onset seizures in adults and can be used alone or in combination with other treatments.

Drug Burden: Results from an open-label phase 3 study showed that after 12 and 24 months of treatment, the 240 participants taking cenobamate for partial-onset seizures experienced a reduction in their average drug load of 29% and 32%, respectively.

A press release on the findings reported, "When treating patients with epilepsy, the number of ASMs they are taking, or their drug load, is an important factor to be mindful of as increased drug load may lead to increased adverse events," said William E. Rosenfeld, MD, Epileptologist/Neurologist, Principal Investigator at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Care Center for Children and Adults in St. Louis, Missouri, and SK Life Science consultant.

Seizure Reduction: Even when reducing concomitant ASMs, participants taking cenobamate still experienced rates of seizure reduction similar to when they were taking additional medications. This was measured by comparing 3-month visits of patients who had a reduced ASM drug load versus patients who had not reduced their drug load.

 SUDEP:  Results from other phase 2 and 3 trials involving 2121 participants taking cenobamate revealed a SUDEP rate of 0.88 per 1,000 person years---similar to SUDEP rates found in other community-based analyses.