UCB’s epilepsy drug Briviact cleared in Japan

Belgium’s largest drugmaker UCB (Euronext: UCB) has received marketing approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) has granted marketing authorization for Briviact (brivaracetam).

The drug is authorized as monotherapy and adjunctive therapy in the treatment of partial onset seizures of epilepsy patients with or without secondary generalization in adult patients with epilepsy. Brivaracetam treatment is initiated without titration, meaning patients receive a therapeutic dose from the first day of treatment.

This marks the fourth approval for brivaracetam in the Asia-Pacific region, which is already approved in Taiwan as monotherapy and adjunctive therapy for focal-onset seizures in patients aged ≥four years and in Hong Kong and the Republic of Korea as adjunctive therapy for focal-onset seizures in patients aged ≥16 years (BRV not launched in the Republic of Korea).