EU approval for Eisai's epilepsy drug Fycompa and Vertex' Kalydeco

Japanese drug major Eisai (TYO: 4523) says that the European Commission has approved for marketing its Fycompa (perampanel) as an adjunctive treatment of partial-onset seizures, with or without secondarily generalized seizures, in people with epilepsy aged 12 years and older. With the EC's approval, the European Union is the first region in the world to approve Eisai's perampanel.

Discovered and developed by Eisai in Europe and Japan, perampanel is currently the only approved anti-epileptic drug (AED) to selectively target AMPA receptors, which play a central role in seizure generation and spread, the company says. Epileptic seizures are primarily mediated by the neurotransmitter glutamate. As an AMPA receptor antagonist, perampanel selectively targets the transmission of seizures by blocking the effects of glutamate.

First launch planned in UK in September