Study Investigates Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Epilepsy
In a new study, researchers report that sodium selenate could be the first curative drug therapy for epilepsy. The study, conducted in an animal model of drug-resistant epilepsy, revealed sodium selenate to have a long-lasting effect (after months of stopping the medication) in reducing the frequency of seizures and in 30% of cases stopping them altogether. Sodium selenate also improved other aspects of epilepsy such as memory, learning, and sensor-motor functioning. The researchers will next begin a clinical trial of sodium selenate as a curative treatment in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. “Despite the cost of the disease and the enormous amount of research into it, there has not been a single therapy developed to prevent the development of epilepsy,” stated a study author. “This Phase 2 clinical trial, if effective, has the potential to tackle a disease that is an enormous global burden as well as being truly transformative for people who are impacted by often daily seizures, with no respite.”