Progress report on new antiepileptic drugs: A summary of the Sixteenth Eilat Conference on New Antiepileptic Drugs and Devices (EILAT XVI): I. Drugs in preclinical and early clinical development

The Eilat Conferences have provided a forum for discussion of novel treatments of epilepsy among basic and clinical scientists, clinicians, and representatives from regulatory agencies as well as from the pharmaceutical industry for 3 decades. Initially with a focus on pharmacological treatments, the Eilat Conferences now also include sessions dedicated to devices for treatment and monitoring. The Sixteenth Eilat Conference on New Antiepileptic Drugs and Devices (EILAT XVI) was held in Madrid, Spain, on May 22-25, 2022 and was attended by 157 delegates from 26 countries. As in previous Eilat Conferences, the core of EILAT XVI consisted of a sequence of sessions where compounds under development were presented and discussed. This progress report summarizes preclinical and, when available, phase 1 clinical data on five different investigational compounds in preclinical or early clinical development, namely GAO-3-02, GRT-X, NBI-921352 (formerly XEN901), OV329, and XEN496 (a pediatric granular formulation of retigabine/ezogabine). Overall, the data presented in this report illustrate novel strategies for developing antiseizure medications, including an interest in novel molecular targets, and a trend to pursue potential new treatments for rare and previously neglected severe epilepsy syndromes.