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Adherence to epilepsy medication is critical for seizure control and research has shown that once-daily dosing regimens may improve adherence rates, which are often low.
Researchers conducted a non-inferiority study to test if once-daily eslicarbazepine acetate, which is usually prescribed as an add-on therapy, is as effective as twice-daily carbamazepine. They randomly assigned 815 newly diagnosed patients with partial seizures to one of the two treatments for 26 weeks.
The team found that 71.1% of patients assigned to once-daily eslicarbazepine were seizure-free at the end of the study compared with 75.6% of patients in the twice-daily carbamazepine group (average risk difference -4.28%, 95% confidence Interval -10.3–1.74%).
The authors, who presented their findings at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting[1]
, said the results indicate that once-daily eslicarbazepine is non inferior to twice-daily carbamazepine, and may be a useful additional treatment option.
References
[1] Ben-Menachem E, Trinka E, Kowacs P, et al. Efficacy of eslicarbazepine acetate versus controlled-release carbamazepine as monotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed partial-onset seizures. Presented at: AAN 68th Annual Meeting; 15–21 April 2016; Vancouver, Canada.
