New epilep­sy com­pa­ny on the block wins FDA ap­proval for made-in-Ko­rea drug to treat fo­cal seizures

The FDA has ush­ered the fifth brand­ed drug for par­tial-on­set seizures to the mar­ket — in what its mak­er calls a first for the Ko­re­an bio­phar­ma in­dus­try.

Al­so known as fo­cal seizures, par­tial-on­set seizures are de­fined by ab­nor­mal elec­tri­cal ac­tiv­i­ty in one part of the brain (ver­sus the whole brain as in gen­er­al­ized seizures). While the 3 mil­lion epilep­sy pa­tients have had a swath of both pre­scrip­tion and gener­ic drugs to choose from, as much as 60% con­tin­ue to re­port hav­ing seizures. The new pill, Xco­pri, promis­es to cut the num­ber of episodes down to ze­ro for some.

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