Background

Epilepsy is a condition that causes repeated seizures. While medications can help control seizures, some people continue to experience them despite treatment. In such cases, doctors may add new medicines to improve seizure control. Brivaracetam (BRV) is one such drug that has been proven effective in clinical trials. This study examined how well BRV works in real-world settings for people aged 16 and older who have focal-onset seizures (FOS), which may or may not spread to both sides of the brain.

Research

Researchers followed 544 people from nine European countries who started taking BRV for the first time. They tracked how many continued using BRV after 12 months (retention rate) and assessed its effectiveness by measuring the percentage of people whose seizures were reduced by at least half (responder rate) or who became completely seizure-free.

After a year over half of patients were still taking BRV. Among those who continued the treatment and were evaluated, 60% saw their seizures reduced by half, and almost 14% became seizure-free. Patients who had previously used a similar medication, levetiracetam, responded to BRV just as well as those who had not. However, about 36% of participants reported side effects, with some stopping treatment as a result.

Impact

These findings suggest that BRV is a beneficial option for people with difficult-to-treat epilepsy, offering seizure reduction rates similar to other modern epilepsy medications in real-world practice.