Drug Resistant Epilepsy
Recent clinical, regulatory, research and industry developments relating to this disease.
What's happening now
An analyst briefing on current research, clinical, regulatory and industry activity surrounding this disease.
- 1 clinical trial expected to report results, the earliest in Q2 2027.
Clinical MilestonesViewHide
- 2026-08-12A First in hUman Study for Resistant Epilepsy With the Vagus Nerve stimulatiOn Device by syneRgia medicAlCompleted
- 2026-06-08A Pilot Study to Assess the Efficacy of Subanesthetic Doses of IV Ketamine in the Treatment Drug Resistant EpilepsyCompleted
- 2026-01-29A Phase 1, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Single and Multiple Ascending Dose Study to Assess the Safety, Tolerability and Pharmacokinetics of Oral iQ-007 in Healthy Male and Female Adult ParticipantsPrimary completion
- 2026-09-10ClinicalAn Open-label, Non-randomized, Single-arm Pilot Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Multiple Pulsed Focused Ultrasound Treatment in Patients With Drug Resistant Temporal Lobe EpilepsyResults expected Q2 2027
- 2026-08-12ClinicalA First in hUman Study for Resistant Epilepsy With the Vagus Nerve stimulatiOn Device by syneRgia medicAlCompleted
- 2026-06-08ClinicalA Pilot Study to Assess the Efficacy of Subanesthetic Doses of IV Ketamine in the Treatment Drug Resistant EpilepsyCompleted
- 2026-01-29ClinicalA Phase 1, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Single and Multiple Ascending Dose Study to Assess the Safety, Tolerability and Pharmacokinetics of Oral iQ-007 in Healthy Male and Female Adult ParticipantsPrimary completion
Clinical trials
The current development programme across all trial phases.
Research activity
Key research shaping understanding of this disease, combining the latest publications with the most influential evidence.
Major themes8
- Deep Brain Stimulation2
- Epilepsy2
- Diet, Ketogenic1
- Drug Resistant Epilepsy1
- Implantable Neurostimulators1
- Models, Psychological1
- Quality of Life1
- Vagus Nerve Stimulation1
Leading journals5
- Nature communications2
- Epilepsia1
- Neurology1
- Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics1
- Signal transduction and targeted therapy1
Leading researchers8
- Lundstrom BN2
- Adorjan I1
- Agostini MA1
- Alexopoulos AV1
- Anderson WS1
- Asenjo-Martinez A1
- Barkley GL1
- Bartolomei F1
Affiliations (unnormalised)6
- Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC)1
- Copenhagen University Hospital1
- Epilepsy Clinic1
- From the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (D.R.N.1
- Harvard Medical School1
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute1
Related conditions
Diseases frequently studied alongside this one. Number shows shared papers.
Disease profile
A grounded synthesis of the condition — overview, causes, mechanism, risk factors and current standard of care.
Drug resistant epilepsy is an epileptic condition in which adequate trials of two tolerated and appropriately chosen antiepileptic drug schedules fail to achieve sustained seizure freedom. It is a treatment-refractory form of epilepsy and is commonly discussed in the context of diagnosis and therapy.
The grounding does not provide a specific disease mechanism for drug resistant epilepsy itself. It does indicate that some therapies act by modulating neural circuits, including thalamocortical circuits via vagus nerve stimulation and adaptive intracranial EEG-guided stimulation with responsive neurostimulation.
Management is described at the modality level and includes non-pharmacologic adjunctive therapies for patients who remain uncontrolled after appropriate antiseizure medications. These include ketogenic diet therapy and neurostimulation approaches such as vagus nerve stimulation, deep brain stimulation, and responsive neurostimulation. The grounding also notes that these techniques are used as adjuvant therapy in some patient populations.
AI-generated summary grounded in MeSH and 2 peer-reviewed sources. Informational only — not medical advice. Generated 2026-07-07.
Reference
Authoritative identity, definition & identifiers.
Epileptic condition in which adequate trials of two tolerated and appropriately chosen and used ANTIEPILEPTIC DRUGS schedules to achieve sustained seizure freedom failed.
- Disease identity & definition — NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), public domain
- Clinical trials — ClinicalTrials.gov (U.S. National Library of Medicine)
- Research activity — Europe PMC (EMBL-EBI) + OpenAlex-derived paper links
- Related entities are derived from literature co-mention (studied together) — associative, not causal.