For half a century, the University of Utah's Anticonvulsant Drug Development (ADD) Program has been at the forefront of discovery, helping millions of people living with epilepsy and seizure disorders. Since its founding in 1975, ADD has become the longest-running NIH-funded program of its kind, a national model for how dedicated research can change lives for the better.
The ADD program has:
- Helped bring 11 new drugs to patients with epilepsy and other seizure disorders.
- Tested more than 32,000 compounds in pursuit of safe and effective therapies.
- Pioneered new approaches to epilepsy prevention, focusing on individuals at risk after brain injury, stroke, or infection.
Finding Solutions for Difficult-to-Treat Seizures
Epilepsy is the fourth most common brain disorder, affecting 3.4 million people in the U.S. and 65 million worldwide. For the one-third of patients who can't find relief with current medications, ADD's mission is to discover new compounds that can finally provide seizure control.
"People with refractory epilepsy often have to take two, three, or even four antiseizure medications at a time and still don't have adequate seizure control," said Karen S. Wilcox, PhD, director of the ADD Program. "One of our main goals is to discover new compounds that can bring better seizure control to people who need it."
To achieve this goal, ADD is creating animal models that can evaluate potential therapies for seizure disorders lacking effective options-such as Dravet syndrome, a severe lifelong form of epilepsy that starts within the first year of life.
Preventing Seizures Before They Start
Wilcox stresses that another important focus of the program is to stop epilepsy before it begins.
"We're not sure which people are at risk for developing epilepsy following brain insults, such as head injuries, central nervous system infections, or strokes," she said. "A major goal of the program is identifying therapeutic agents that might prevent the development of epilepsy in those at risk."
Looking ahead, the ADD Program remains dedicated to advancing epilepsy treatment and prevention with a goal of improving outcomes now and in the future.
