Levetiracetam
Overview
Anticonvulsant
The anticonvulsants are a diverse group of pharmaceuticals used in the treatment of epileptic seizures. Anticonvulsants are also increasingly being used in the treatment of bipolar disorder, since many seem to act as mood stabilizers, and in the treatment of neuropathic pain. The goal of an...
medication used to treat epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
. It is the S-enantiomer
Enantiomer
In chemistry, an enantiomer is one of two stereoisomers that are mirror images of each other that are non-superposable , much as one's left and right hands are the same except for opposite orientation. It can be clearly understood if you try to place your hands one over the other without...
of etiracetam
Etiracetam
Etiracetam is a nootropic drug of the racetam family. It is racemic; its biologically active enantiomeric form is levetiracetam....
, structurally similar to the prototypical nootropic
Nootropic
Nootropics , also referred to as smart drugs, brain steroids, memory enhancers, cognitive enhancers, and intelligence enhancers, are drugs, supplements, nutraceuticals, and functional foods that improve mental functions such as cognition, memory, intelligence, motivation, attention, and concentration...
drug piracetam
Piracetam
Piracetam is a nootropic drug. Piracetam's chemical name is 2-oxo-1-pyrrolidine acetamide; it shares the same 2-oxo-pyrrolidone base structure with 2-oxo-pyrrolidine carboxylic acid . Piracetam is a cyclic derivative of GABA. It is one of the group of racetams...
.
Levetiracetam is marketed under the trade name Keppra. Keppra is manufactured by UCB Pharmaceuticals Inc.
UCB (company)
UCB is a multinational biopharmaceutical manufacturing company headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.- History :UCB was founded on 18 January 1928 by Emmanuel Janssen, a Belgian businessman...
Since November of 2008 the drug has been available as a generic
Generic drug
A generic drug is a drug defined as "a drug product that is comparable to brand/reference listed drug product in dosage form, strength, route of administration, quality and performance characteristics, and intended use." It has also been defined as a term referring to any drug marketed under its...
brand in the United States.
Levetiracetam has been approved in the European Union as a monotherapy treatment for epilepsy in the case of partial seizures, or as an adjunctive therapy
Combination therapy
Combination therapy or polytherapy is the use of more than one medication or other therapy. In contrast, monotherapy is any therapy which is taken by itself....
for partial, myoclonic and tonic-clonic seizures.
