For adults with drug-resistant focal epilepsy, what are the effects of adjunct eslicarbazepine acetate?

Abstract

For adults with drug‐resistant focal epilepsy taking up to three antiepileptic drugs, moderate‐certainty evidence shows that adding eslicarbazepine acetate (400 to 1200 mg/d) probably increases the number of people achieving at least a 50% reduction in seizure frequency (370 vs 217 per 1000 people; all results on average) and slightly increases the number of people achieving seizure freedom (29 vs 10 per 1000 people). There was no clear difference in all‐cause treatment withdrawal overall or for the two lower doses (400 and 800 mg/d), but at 1200 mg/d, increased withdrawal from eslicarbazepine acetate was notable (308 vs 176 per 1000 people). More people experienced a range of adverse effects with eslicarbazepine acetate than with placebo, including dizziness, nausea, somnolence, diplopia, and vomiting (increases ranged from 31 to 153 per 1000 people). Withdrawals due to adverse effects were increased with eslicarbazepine acetate overall (106 vs 40 per 1000 people) and, more importantly, for the two higher doses (800 and 1200 mg/d).