• J A French, A M Kanner, J Bautista, B Abou-Khalil, T Browne, C L Harden, W H Theodore, C Bazil, J Stern, S C Schachter, D Bergen, D Hirtz, G D Montouris, M Nespeca, B Gidal, W J Marks, W R Turk, J H Fischer, B Bourgeois, A Wilner, R E Faught, R C Sachdeo, A Beydoun, T A Glauser, Therapeutics and Technology Assessment Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology, Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology, and American Epilepsy Society.
• University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
• Neurology. 2004 Apr 27; 62 (8): 1252-60.

ObjectiveTo assess the evidence demonstrating efficacy, tolerability, and safety of seven new antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) (gabapentin, lamotrigine, topiramate, tiagabine, oxcarbazepine, levetiracetam, and zonisamide-reviewed in the order in which these agents received approval by the US Food and Drug Administration) in the treatment of children and adults with newly diagnosed partial and generalized epilepsies.MethodsA 23-member committee, including general neurologists, pediatric neurologists, epileptologists, and doctors in pharmacy, evaluated the available evidence based on a structured literature review including MEDLINE, Current Contents, and Cochrane library for relevant articles from 1987 until September 2002, with selected manual searches up until 2003.ResultsThere is evidence either from comparative or dose-controlled trials that gabapentin, lamotrigine, topiramate, and oxcarbazepine have efficacy as monotherapy in newly diagnosed adolescents and adults with either partial or mixed seizure disorders. There is also evidence that lamotrigine is effective for newly diagnosed absence seizures in children. Evidence for effectiveness of the new AEDs in newly diagnosed patients with other generalized epilepsy syndromes is lacking.ConclusionsThe results of this evidence-based assessment provide guidelines for the prescription of AEDs for patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy and identify those seizure types and syndromes where more evidence is necessary.

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