Eisai reports positive phase III data for epilepsy drug

Eisai has reported positive clinical trial data from a phase III study of its new epilepsy therapy perampanel, which demonstrates its safety and efficacy.

The drug was trialled against a placebo control group as a means of treating patients having partial-onset seizures who are also being administered with one to three other epilepsy drugs.

It was found that perampanel was able to deliver statistically significant reductions in median seizure frequency compared to placebo among the 389 subjects recruited for the study.

This trial, named Study 305, is the last of three phase III assessments in the Explore clinical programme, with trial design remaining consistent across all three studies.

Dr Lynn Kramer, president of Eisai's neuroscience product creation unit, said: "Eisai is committed to developing new therapies that can offer seizure control and address unmet medical needs, as part of our human healthcare corporate mission."

This comes after the firm reported positive trial data for the epilepsy treatment Zonegran last month.