Efficiency and tolerance of sustained-release valproate sodium (Depakine®ChronosphereТМ) as the drug of the first choice in the treatment of adult epilepsy

Objective: to obtain additional Russian data on the efficacy of Depakine®ChronosphereTMas a first-line agent for monotherapy in the treatment of adult epilepsy.
Patients and methods. The short-term open-label prospective observational study that maximally approximated to routine clinical practice was conducted. The follow-up of patients lasted 2 months. The study included 494 patients over 18 years of age (mean age 30.2±14.1 years) with different types of epilepsy. Symptomatic focal epilepsies were noted in 52% of all cases, presumably symptomatic and idiopathic generalized epilepsies in 16.8 and 29.8%, respectively; unspecified ones in 1.4% of cases. The patients received Depakine Chronosphere in an average daily dose of 18.58±5.53 mg/kg. The efficacy of the drug was evaluated from the change in the number of seizures; moreover, subjective assessments of therapeutic effectiveness were made by a physician and a patient. The safety was estimated from patients' reports on adverse reactions during the follow-up.
Results. More than 90% of all the patients responded to Depakine Chronosphere positively (seizures ceased or decreased in number). Seizures completely disappeared in 64.6% of the patients. The drug was proven to be effective in different types of epilepsy (both partial and generalized ones). Depakine Chronosphere was well tolerated in this study. Adverse events were observed in 15.7% of the patients, but they gave grounds to discontinue the drug only in 0.8% of all cases. The physicians and patients unanimously assessed the efficiency of therapy as very good and good in over 90% of cases. The good efficacy and tolerance of the agent are supported by the data of an analysis using the global clinical rating scale: during the treatment, there was a marked improvement and no side effects in 61.1% and a marked improvement and mild side effects in 17%.
Conclusion. The study has indicated that Depakine Chronosphere monotherapy for adult epilepsy is effective and safe and a promising treatment.

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