eslicarbazepine / Generic mfg. - LARVOL DELTA

Eslicarbazepine Use During Breastfeeding: A Case Report. (PubMed, J Hum Lact) - "Although no previous data on the use of eslicarbazepine acetate during lactation are available, limited but reassuring data have been reported with oxcarbazepine, of which eslicarbazepine is a major metabolite. Given the well-known benefits of breastfeeding, and according to the above reassuring data, breastfeeding under clinical supervision could be considered for healthy full-term infants of mothers on eslicarbazepine acetate monotherapy. However, parents should be warned that data concerning the safety of eslicarbazepine during breastfeeding are scarce, and long-term neurodevelopment outcomes in breastfed children are unknown. Additionally, the infants' serum levels should be measured in case of an unexplained adverse reaction."

Journal • CNS Disorders • Epilepsy

Mortality Risk After Initiation of Cenobamate or Other Antiseizure Medications (AAN 2026) - "Objective: To retrospectively examine all-cause mortality in patients after initiating cenobamate vs mortality in patients treated with selected antiseizure medications (ASMs) that have similar patterns of use in medication-resistant epilepsy.Background: A previous post-hoc analysis of survival in a clinical trial cohort showed that the all-cause standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for cenobamate-treated patients was 1.32 (95% CI: 0.84-2.0), which was not significantly different from the general population.Design/ De-identified electronic health records from the Truveta database identified adults (≥18 years) with an epilepsy diagnosis who initiated therapeutic doses of cenobamate or another selected ASM (brivaracetam, clobazam, lacosamide, eslicarbazepine, or perampanel) between 1/1/2020-12/5/2024. Patients treated with cenobamate at therapeutic doses had lower mortality rates than patients treated with selected comparable ASM."

CNS Disorders • Epilepsy

Epilepsy-related and All-cause Healthcare Resource Utilization After Initiation of Adjunctive Cenobamate (AAN 2026) - "Objective: To evaluate the comparative effect of initiating cenobamate vs selected antiseizure medications (ASMs, brivaracetam, clobazam, eslicarbazepine, lacosamide, or perampanel) on epilepsy-related and all-cause inpatient (IP) and emergency room (ER) utilization rates.Background: Cenobamate is an ASM approved for adults in the US that has demonstrated efficacy across focal seizure subtypes.Design/ A retrospective observational study using de-identified electronic health records from the Truveta database identified adults (≥18 years) with an epilepsy diagnosis who initiated cenobamate or another selected ASM between 1/1/202012/52024. Initiating cenobamate was associated with a significant reduction in both epilepsy-related and all-cause IP admissions and ER visits compared to propensity-matched patients who similarly could have initiated cenobamate but instead initiated other ASMs."

HEOR • CNS Disorders • Epilepsy

Hyponatremia Due to Vasopressin-Independent Antidiuresis Caused by Oxcarbazepine But Not Eslicarbazepine and Corrected with Tolvaptan (NKF-SCM 2026) - "METHODS/CASE SUMMARY 35-year-old woman with seizure disorder on cenobamate and eslicarbazepine acetate chronically presented to an outside facility with suicidal ideation. There, the medication regimen was switched to oxcarbazepine and quetiapine due to the facility's formulary restrictions...CONCLUSION Oxcarbazepine can cause AVP-independent SIAD responsive to tolvaptan. Individual risk for hyponatremia needs to be taken into account when replacing/interchanging antiepileptics."

Cardiovascular • CNS Disorders • Epilepsy • Heart Failure • Nephrology • Suicidal Ideation

Depressive Symptom Changes Following Antiseizure Medication (ASM) Use – A Quantitative Analysis of Clinical Studies (AAN 2026) - "Most anti-seizure medications were correlated with symptoms improvement, with the greatest effects observed for Perampanel (d = –0.77), Brivaracetam (d = –0.55), Lacosamide (d = –0.46), and Eslicarbazepine Acetate (d = –0.41). Decreases in depressive symptoms appear to be an underrecognized yet clinically meaningful secondary effect of antiseizure medications. These findings highlight specific medications that may provide the greatest benefit in co-morbid neuropsychiatric symptoms and underscore an importance of integrating psychiatric outcomes into epilepsy treatment decisions."

Clinical • CNS Disorders • Depression • Epilepsy

Safety and efficacy of eslicarbazepine acetate for seizure prevention in patients with stroke at high risk of developing post-stroke epilepsy: a proof-of-concept, phase 2a, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled antiepileptogenesis trial. (PubMed, Lancet Neurol) - P2 | "The proportion of patients who had a first unprovoked seizure, died, or discontinued at 6 months did not differ significantly between the eslicarbazepine acetate and placebo groups. However, the trial was underpowered owing to slow recruitment and the COVID-19 pandemic, producing wide confidence intervals. The findings indicate that antiepileptogenesis studies are feasible, and guide the design of adequately powered trials with clinically meaningful endpoints."

Clinical • Journal • P2a data • Atherosclerosis • Cardiovascular • CNS Disorders • Epilepsy • Hepatology • Infectious Disease • Ischemic stroke • Liver Failure • Novel Coronavirus Disease

Antiseizure Medications in Older Adults with Epilepsy: Considerations in Pharmacology, Safety, Tolerability, and Effectiveness of Newer Agents. (PubMed, Drugs Aging) - "Data from previous trials are reviewed for established agents (including levetiracetam, lamotrigine, carbamazepine, gabapentin, and pregabalin) as well as newer antiseizure medications such as lacosamide, brivaracetam, cenobamate, eslicarbazepine acetate, and perampanel. Overall, existing evidence supports the use of lower starting doses, slower titration schedules, and avoidance of enzyme-inducing antiseizure medications when possible in older adults. The heterogeneity of this population highlights the need for future studies stratified by frailty, cognitive status, and the living environment to better inform individualized tolerability-focused epilepsy care in later life."

Journal • Review • Alzheimer's Disease • Cardiovascular • CNS Disorders • Cognitive Disorders • Dementia • Depression • Epilepsy • Hepatology • Oncology • Osteoporosis • Psychiatry • Rheumatology

Pharmacological strategies for preventing post-stroke seizures and epilepsy. (PubMed, Front Neurol) - "Although current evidence is limited, we suggest that levetiracetam and lamotrigine may be preferred agents for preventing acute seizure recurrence. Statins, GLP-1 agonists, eslicarbazepine, perampanel, and losartan have not been evaluated yet and need further study on their ability to prevent first-time seizures in stroke patients. While clinical trials of antiseizure medications can be costly, further research into biomarkers of epileptogenesis could facilitate more feasible clinical trials to enhance the evidence base for antiseizure medications in post-stroke seizures and epilepsy."

Journal • Review • Cardiovascular • CNS Disorders • Epilepsy

Pharmacovigilance signal detection of psychiatric adverse events induced by third-generation antiepileptic drugs in children. (PubMed, Front Pharmacol) - "Reports involving patients under 18 years old were retrieved using the generic and brand names of four drugs: lacosamide, perampanel, brivaracetam, and eslicarbazepine. The findings of this study provide a reference for clinical selection of third-generation AEDs. When initiating treatment in children, clinicians should consider the differential psychiatric risk profiles of these third-generation AEDs, monitor potential psychiatric side effects and adjust prescriptions promptly."

Adverse events • Journal • CNS Disorders • Psychiatry • Suicidal Ideation

Bayesian-Based Pharmacokinetic Framework Integrated with Therapeutic Drug Monitoring for Assessing Adherence to Antiseizure Medications: A Clinical Trial Simulation Study. (PubMed, J Med Internet Res) - "This study proposed an innovative Bayesian-based pharmacokinetic (PK) framework integrated with TDM data to address the above limitations, with a focus on 14 widely prescribed ASMs, including brivaracetam, carbamazepine, clobazam, eslicarbazepine acetate, lacosamide, lamotrigine, levetiracetam, oxcarbazepine, perampanel, phenobarbital, topiramate, valproic acid, vigabatrin, and zonisamide. This study establishes a Bayesian-based PK approach to enhance the assessment of ASMs adherence. This approach facilitates a paradigm shift from population-based management to patient-specific adherence profiling, offering a practical methodology for the precise evaluation of medication-taking behaviors."

Journal • PK/PD data • CNS Disorders • Epilepsy

Trigeminal neuralgia secondary to giant saccular aneurysm/endovascular procedure – Is lidocaine block an old treatment with a new indication? (EHF-EHC 2025) - "Carbamazepine is the standard firstline treatment, although alternatives such as oxcarbazepine, lamotrigine, or pregabalin may be considered in cases of intolerance or poor response...Due to poor control of pain (15 episodes/month) and intolerance to carbamazepine (ataxia, vertigo), eslicarbazepine was introduced. Trials with oxcarbazepine, lamotrigine, pregabalin, and levetiracetam were ineffective and poorly tolerated... Peripheral nerve block with lidocaine is a safe, accessible, and effective option for symptom relief and should be considered in cases of secondary trigeminal neuralgia refractory to pharmacological treatment."

Ataxia • Brain Cancer • Cardiovascular • Movement Disorders • Musculoskeletal Pain • Neuralgia • Otorhinolaryngology • Pain • Solid Tumor • Vertigo

Trigeminal neural and hemifacial spasm – An uncommon association (EHF-EHC 2025) - "The patient started eslicarbazepine acetate 400 mg as a single daily dose, titrated to 800 mg, and the trigeminal neuralgia attacks were markedly reduced... This case underscores the rare cooccurrence of trigeminal neuralgia and ipsilateral hemifacial spasm, with evident vascular compression of the trigeminal nerve but no identifiable facial nerve compression. These findings support the hypothesis that facial nerve hyperactivity may result from aberrant activation of the trigemino-facial reflex pathway, even without direct anatomical compression. Fig."

Neuralgia

Real-world disproportionality analysis of sleep disturbances associated with antiseizure medications in epilepsy: a pharmacovigilance study. (PubMed, Front Pharmacol) - "Significant signals were detected for sodium channel blockers eslicarbazepine, stiripentol, and cenobamate, as well as for mechanistically diverse agents vigabatrin, pregabalin, brivaracetam, and cannabidiol. The distinct disproportionality reporting profiles identified for some agents, which differ from prior evidence, necessitate careful clinical interpretation. Overall, this study elucidates the complex sleep safety profiles of ASMs, offering evidence to support more informed drug selection and monitoring in practice."

Adverse events • Journal • Real-world evidence • CNS Disorders • Epilepsy • Insomnia • Sleep Disorder

Safety and Efficacy of Eslicarbazepine Acetate in Children Diagnosed With a Focal Seizure Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. (PubMed, Brain Behav) - "Though ESL increases the risk of adverse effects, it dramatically reduces seizure frequency in children with focal epilepsy. These risks require regular monitoring. Subsequent study should focus on long-term effectiveness, safety, and ways to mitigate the negative effects of ESL."

Clinical • Journal • Retrospective data • Review • CNS Disorders • Epilepsy • Pain • Pediatrics

Assessment of Adjunct Cenobamate on Seizure Outcome Using Long-term Electrocorticography (AES 2025) - "Table of Results LCM – Lacosamide ESL – Eslicarbazepine CBZ – Carbamazepine Long-term ECoG offers an objective method to assess antiseizure medication efficacy. Long-term ECoG offers an objective method to assess antiseizure medication efficacy. However, it also presents challenges such as inconsistent interrogation and uploads, resulting in a smaller sample size. In this retrospective analysis, 85% of patients treated with both CNB and RNS demonstrated a reduction in seizure count."

CNS Disorders • Epilepsy

Epilepsy-Related and All-Cause Healthcare Resource Utilization After Initiation of Adjunctive Cenobamate (AES 2025) - "The aim of this study was to evaluate the comparative effect of initiating cenobamate vs selected ASMs (brivaracetam, clobazam, eslicarbazepine, lacosamide, or perampanel) on epilepsy-related and all-cause inpatient (IP) and emergency room (ER) utilization rates. A retrospective observational study using de-identified electronic health records (EHRs) from 28 healthcare organizations representing ambulatory centers, hospitals, imaging centers, and clinics and medical offices (the Truveta database) identified adults (≥18 years) with an epilepsy diagnosis who initiated cenobamate or another selected ASM between January 1, 2020 and Dec 5, 2024. Initiation of cenobamate was associated with a significant reduction in both epilepsy-related and all-cause IP admissions and ER visits as compared to propensity-matched patients who similarly could likely have initiated cenobamate, but instead initiated other ASMs. The mechanism for why cenobamate was associated with fewer IP..."

HEOR • CNS Disorders • Epilepsy

Mortality Risk After Initiation of Cenobamate or Other Antiseizure Medications (AES 2025) - "The present real-world study examined the all-cause mortality rate in patients after initiating cenobamate vs the mortality rate in patients treated with selected antiseizure medications (ASMs) that have similar patterns of use in medication-resistant epilepsy. A retrospective observational study using de-identified electronic health records from 28 US health systems (Truveta) identified adults (≥18 years) with an epilepsy diagnosis who initiated therapeutic doses of cenobamate or another selected ASM (brivaracetam, clobazam, lacosamide, eslicarbazepine, or perampanel) between 1/1/2020-12/5/2024. This retrospective analysis shows that patients treated with cenobamate at therapeutic doses had lower mortality rates than patients treated with selected comparable ASMs commonly used for medication-resistant epilepsy. Further exploration of these results are needed to compare to other ASMs and non-ASM treatment options (e.g., surgery and neuromodulation), to compare to..."

CNS Disorders • Epilepsy

Machine Learning–Driven Identification of Key Predictors for Eslicarbazepine Treatment Response in Epilepsy (AES 2025) - "Higher ESL dose, lower baseline seizure frequency, and certain seizure types predict favorable ESL response. XGBoost and SVM models demonstrated strong predictive performance and may aid in patient stratification and personalized ASM selection. Future work should validate findings in multi-center cohorts and integrate neuroimaging or genetic biomarkers to enhance accuracy."

Late-breaking abstract • Machine learning • CNS Disorders • Epilepsy

The epileptology of Malan Syndrome: Are we missing seizures in intellectual disability-overgrowth syndromes? (AES 2025) - "Oxcarbazepine (4/12), eslicarbazepine (1/12), and levetiracetam (5/12) were the most effective ASMs. One-third of individuals with Malan syndrome have seizures. All had focal-onset seizures, associated with convulsive status epilepticus and drug-resistance in some. ASMs used to treat focal-onset seizures were effective."

Autism Spectrum Disorder • CNS Disorders • Developmental Disorders • Epilepsy • Genetic Disorders • Mental Retardation • Mood Disorders • Psychiatry

Exposure to Curriculum-Based Education Increases the Evidence-Based Use of Newer Anti-Seizure Medications for the Management of Focal Epilepsy Among Neurologists (AES 2025) - "Neurologist learners across the 3 CME programs were matched to claims data to identify them as prescribers of newer ASMs (defined as: brivaracetam, cenobamate, eslicarbazepine, lacosamide, and perampanel) in the 6 months prior to participation and 3 months after program participation relative to a propensity matched group of neurologists who did not participate in the educational programming. The reported data indicated that positive improvements in knowledge and competence across CME programming on the use of newer ASMs can translate to improvements in the clinical use of such medications. The next step is to determine if similar claims results are found 6 months after taking the CME programming."

CNS Disorders • Epilepsy

Clobazam pharmacokinetics in relation to concomitant oxcarbazepine and cenobamate doses (AES 2025) - "We identified patients taking cenobamate or oxcarbazepine/eslicarbazepine acetate. Cenobamate had the greatest impact on N-CLB/CLB ratio and the CLB and N-CLB clearance. OXC/ESL had a lower impact. The clearance of CLB was dose dependent while the clearance of N-CLB was not, suggesting that the inhibition of CYP2C19 was already maximal at OXC dose of 1200 and CNB dose of 100, while the induction of CYP3A4 increased at the higher doses."

PK/PD data • CNS Disorders • Epilepsy • CYP2C19 • CYP3A4

Clinical practice guidelines for the administration of third-generation anti-seizure medications. (PubMed, Seizure) - "This guideline provides a detailed evaluation of the current evidence and treatment recommendations regarding third-generation ASMs. This guideline will help clinicians to better understand these medications and offer guidance for clinical practice."

Clinical guideline • Journal • Review • CNS Disorders • Epilepsy

Economic evaluation of brivaracetam in the adjunctive treatment of patients with focal-onset seizure in Jordan. (PubMed, Medicine (Baltimore)) - "In addition to BRV, 3 treatment comparators were included in this economic evaluation: eslicarbazepine (ESL), lacosamide (LCM), and perampanel (PER). Compared to ESL and PER, BRV was associated with cost-savings. Compared to LCM, the BRV was cost-effective at the World Health Organization recommended willingness-to-pay threshold of 3× of Jordanian gross domestic product per capita."

HEOR • Journal • CNS Disorders • Epilepsy

Evaluating the risk of osteopenia-related adverse events with antiepileptic drugs: a pharmacovigilance study based on the FAERS database. (PubMed, Front Pharmacol) - "Previous studies have only identified a link between phenytoin and osteopenia, while the relationship between valproic acid and this adverse event remains controversial, and gabapentin and eslicarbazepine have not been systematically reported. The findings provide the first evidence of an association between these four antiepileptic drugs and osteopenia, offering insights and guidance for clinical recognition and prevention of such events."

Adverse events • Journal

Psychiatric vulnerability in epilepsy: Recognising the impact of antiseizure medication choice (ECNP 2025) - "Levetiracetam (LEV) and zonisamide (ZNS) show the highest rates of PBSEs and intolerable PBSEs (IPBSEs), frequently requiring dose adjustments or discontinuation [4]...In contrast, carbamazepine, valproate, lamotrigine, and gabapentin are associated with lower psychiatric risk...Newer ASMs, including eslicarbazepine and lacosamide, appear to offer more favourable psychiatric tolerability in patients with refractory epilepsy [5]... Psychiatric and behavioural side effects of ASMs are frequent and often under-recognised. Their impact may compromise both seizure control and psychological stability. A proactive, individualised approach that considers psychiatric history, seizure type, and ASM profile is essential."

CNS Disorders • Depression • Epilepsy • Mental Retardation • Mood Disorders • Psychiatry • Social Anxiety Disorder