Reduction in frequency of drop seizures greater with fenfluramine versus placebo<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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MONDAY, May 2, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Among patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), the percentage reduction in the frequency of drop seizures is greater with fenfluramine versus placebo, according to a study published online May 2 in JAMA Neurology<\/em>.<\/p>\n Kelly G. Knupp, M.D., from the Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, and colleagues examined the efficacy and safety of fenfluramine in patients with LGS (aged 2 to 35 years) from 65 sites in North America, Europe, and Australia. Participants were randomly assigned to receive a 0.7- or 0.2-mg\/kg\/d dose of fenfluramine or placebo (87, 89, and 87 patients, respectively).<\/p>\n The researchers found that the median percentage reduction in frequency of drop seizures was 26.5, 14.2, and 7.6 percentage points in the groups receiving the 0.7- and 0.2-mg\/kg\/d dose of fenfluramine and placebo, respectively. The trial met its primary efficacy end point, with a \u00e2\u0088\u009219.9 percentage point estimated median difference in drop seizures from baseline for the 0.7-mg\/kg\/d dose of fenfluramine versus placebo. More patients in the group receiving the 0.7-mg\/kg\/d dose of fenfluramine achieved a 50 percent or greater response versus placebo (25 versus 10 percent). Generalized tonic-clonic (GTC) seizure was the subtype that seemed most responsive to fenfluramine, with reductions in frequency of 45.7 and 58.2 percent in the groups receiving the 0.7- and 0.2-mg\/kg\/d doses of fenfluramine and a 3.7 percent increase in the placebo group.<\/p>\n “Fenfluramine was also highly effective in reducing GTC seizures, suggesting that fenfluramine may be a particularly advantageous choice in patients with this seizure subtype,” the authors write.<\/p>\n Several authors disclosed financial ties to biopharmaceutical companies, including Zogenix, which manufactures fenfluramine and funded the study.<\/p>\n