Epilepsy patients experiencing seizures can probably benefit from the novel medication introduced in this piece of information. Scientists have now found that the drug perampanel can significantly decrease seizures in people suffering from hard-to-control epilepsy. The study findings apparently have major implications in the health section.

During the study, a total of 387 people in the United States and Latin America diagnosed with uncontrolled epilepsy were evaluated. All the participants were taking one to three other anti-seizure drugs. Authors randomly assigned the volunteers to either receive 8 or 12 milligrams of perampanel or a placebo pill once daily for 19 weeks along with their regular treatment.

“For about one-third of people with epilepsy, the drugs either don’t stop their seizures or the side effects are not tolerable. If this drug is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it will be another tool in our arsenal for combating or reducing seizures in people with difficult to treat epilepsy,” stated study author Jacqueline French, MD, with New York University in New York. French is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.

Those on the 12 milligram dose of perampanel allegedly had a 14 percent decline in seizures within a 28 day period than patients who took the placebo. Subjects consuming 8 milligram dose reported an almost 6 percent reduction in their seizure frequency as compared to those who took the placebo. Dizziness, drowsiness, irritability, headache, falls and ataxia appeared as the most common side effects of the drug.

The study will be presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, April 9–16, 2011, in Honolulu.