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The Anticonvulsant Drug Development Program
The project uses animal seizure models and neuroscience techniques to
help develop new antiepileptic agents. Some 800-1000 novel compounds
per year are evaluated against conventional drugs for anticonvulsant
efficacy and potency, neurotoxicity, effect on liver function, and mechanism
of action. Promising compounds, which exhibit a high level and/or unusual
spectrum of anticonvulsant activity with superior therapeutic potential,
are selected for detailed toxicology studies and subsequent clinical
trials in epileptic patients. The project has been continually funded
since 1975 and every new anticonvulsant introduced to clinical use in
the USA during the past 20 years has been evaluated in this research
program.
The program is an integral part of the Department of Pharmacology and
Toxicology and, as such, provides a site for research training of undergraduate
students, departmental graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Faculty
aligned with the program also provide instruction to professional students
in the College of Pharmacy and the School of Medicine.
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