The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

The safety and effectiveness of newer antiepileptics: a comparative postmarketing cohort study

The safety and effectiveness of newer antiepileptics: a comparative postmarketing cohort study
The safety and effectiveness of newer antiepileptics: a comparative postmarketing cohort study
Clinical trials for the newer antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have provided inconclusive information to evaluate comparative risk benefit. The authors use data from postmarketing observational cohort studies to compare the failure of treatment with lamotrigine, vigabatrin, and gabapentin in patients with refractory epilepsy. The Drug Safety Research Unit has conducted prescription event monitoring (PEM) studies for lamotrigine, vigabatrin, and gabapentin to monitor their safety when used in primary care. The primary outcome of this study was time to treatment failure in patients who had been prescribed the drug after the start of the PEM study. Patients on gabapentin had reduced time to treatment failure compared to those on the other 2 drugs. The age- and sex-adjusted hazard ratio of failure was 1.53 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.38-1.70) for gabapentin compared to lamotrigine and 1.19 (95% CI = 1.10-1.30) for vigabatrin compared to lamotrigine. The observed differences between the 3 study drugs might be confounded by a higher proportion of patients treated with gabapentin having refractory epilepsy, a shorter duration of the gabapentin PEM study, and a lower relative dose of gabapentin (approved at the time of the PEM study). The current study provides information about the routine usage of newer AEDs, which complements evidence from clinical trials regarding the efficacy and safety of these AEDs. Although this study showed differences on times to treatment failure between lamotrigine, vigabatrin, and gabapentin, the results are only useful when considered together with results from other studies seeking to answer the same questions.
newer antiepileptic drugs, lamotrigine, vigabatrin, gabapentin, treatment failure, prescription event monitoring, postmarketing surveillance, safety, efficacy
385-393
Acharya, N.V.
771d4ebc-caae-4c3f-a0ac-c6852f88cff4
Pickering, R.M.
4a828314-7ddf-4f96-abed-3407017d4c90
Wilton, L.W.
8b51cf62-2c21-4d21-8263-7e86b3bf22a5
Shakir, S.A.
2902d931-e5b1-4bab-9e73-25709a4cdc50
Acharya, N.V.
771d4ebc-caae-4c3f-a0ac-c6852f88cff4
Pickering, R.M.
4a828314-7ddf-4f96-abed-3407017d4c90
Wilton, L.W.
8b51cf62-2c21-4d21-8263-7e86b3bf22a5
Shakir, S.A.
2902d931-e5b1-4bab-9e73-25709a4cdc50

Acharya, N.V., Pickering, R.M., Wilton, L.W. and Shakir, S.A. (2005) The safety and effectiveness of newer antiepileptics: a comparative postmarketing cohort study. Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 45 (4), 385-393.

Record type: Article

Abstract

Clinical trials for the newer antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have provided inconclusive information to evaluate comparative risk benefit. The authors use data from postmarketing observational cohort studies to compare the failure of treatment with lamotrigine, vigabatrin, and gabapentin in patients with refractory epilepsy. The Drug Safety Research Unit has conducted prescription event monitoring (PEM) studies for lamotrigine, vigabatrin, and gabapentin to monitor their safety when used in primary care. The primary outcome of this study was time to treatment failure in patients who had been prescribed the drug after the start of the PEM study. Patients on gabapentin had reduced time to treatment failure compared to those on the other 2 drugs. The age- and sex-adjusted hazard ratio of failure was 1.53 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.38-1.70) for gabapentin compared to lamotrigine and 1.19 (95% CI = 1.10-1.30) for vigabatrin compared to lamotrigine. The observed differences between the 3 study drugs might be confounded by a higher proportion of patients treated with gabapentin having refractory epilepsy, a shorter duration of the gabapentin PEM study, and a lower relative dose of gabapentin (approved at the time of the PEM study). The current study provides information about the routine usage of newer AEDs, which complements evidence from clinical trials regarding the efficacy and safety of these AEDs. Although this study showed differences on times to treatment failure between lamotrigine, vigabatrin, and gabapentin, the results are only useful when considered together with results from other studies seeking to answer the same questions.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 2005
Keywords: newer antiepileptic drugs, lamotrigine, vigabatrin, gabapentin, treatment failure, prescription event monitoring, postmarketing surveillance, safety, efficacy

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 24266
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/24266
PURE UUID: 91dea9ff-4674-4b3c-8085-ee838b36ddab

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 30 Mar 2006
Last modified: 08 Jan 2022 03:47

Export record

Contributors

Author: N.V. Acharya
Author: R.M. Pickering
Author: L.W. Wilton
Author: S.A. Shakir

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×