RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. announce the publication of a case report in Heliyon, involving a 19-year old patient with pharmaco-resistant epilepsy. As is often the case with such patients, tolerance developed to the standard anti-epileptic treatments, rendering them ineffective, and the patient required a craniotomy in order to remove the brain tissue responsible for the seizure generation. One year after surgery, the patient remains seizure free, but remains on medication.

Cortical brain tissue surgically resected from the patient exhibited epileptiform bursting with microelectrode recordings. When KRM?II?81, one of lead GABAkines, was added the incubation fluid, the epileptiform activity in the excised brain tissue was fully suppressed. KRM?II?81 is a novel a2/3 subtype preferring GABAA receptor potentiator that previously demonstrated anti-epileptic efficacy in multiple animal models of epilepsy as well as a lack of drug tolerance and reduced undesirable side-effects.

These findings add translational support to the proposition that KRM?II?81 might reduce seizure burden in pharmaco-resistant patients. Epilepsy is a highly prevalent, life-disrupting and life-threatening neurological disorder for which about 30% of the millions of patients worldwide do not respond to treatment. It is for this reason that research efforts such as ours continue with the search for safe and more effective antiseizure medications.

The present research finding, along with a large data base of preclinical studies, predicts that KRM-II-81 will be effective in those patients not treated successfully with standard of care medicines. The additional possibility of a non-sedating and non-addicting profile along with the lack of tolerance development adds to confidence in moving KRM-II-81 forward into patient clinical trials.