'Stache: Help CURE Raise $1M! Click here for the latest on Slash the 'Stache
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Morning Joe Interviews CURE Chair Susan Axelrod
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Listen as David Axelrod Discusses CURE and the Chicago Benefit
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Study Finds Superior Drug Combo for Difficult-to-Control Epilepsy
By Leila Gray
UW Health Sciences/UW Medicine
 A combination of two common drugs, lamotrigine and valproate, is more effective in treating difficult-to control epilepsy than other anti-epileptic regimens, according to a University of Washington report to be published online this week in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
More than 3 million Americans have epilepsy, and about one million of these have a difficult-to-treat form.
In a large-scale, retrospective study of a population of patients with very difficult-to-control epilepsy, researchers discovered that only the lamotrigine/valproate treatment regimen, out of the 32 drug combinations studied, significantly decreased seizure frequency in this group.
This specific combination reduced seizure frequency by about half, on average, compared to other regimens. Although it rarely produced complete freedom from seizures, the combination was superior to others in reducing the number of convulsive seizures patients experienced.
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Beauty, Inside and Out: Susan Axelrod, Epilepsy Advocate
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NIH Announces Recipients of Research Grants Focused on Epilepsy
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New, Less-invasive Epilepsy Treatment Promising
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WTTW's "Chicago Tonight" Looks at Exciting New Research
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FasterCures: Q&A with Chair Susan Axelrod
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White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch Raises Funds for CURE
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Epilepsy's Big, Fat Miracle
By FRED VOGELSTEIN
Published: November 17, 2010
Once every three or four months my son, Sam, grabs a cookie or a piece of candy and, wide-eyed, holds it inches from his mouth, ready to devour it. He knows he’s not allowed to eat these things, but like any 9-year-old, he hopes that somehow, this once, my wife, Evelyn, or I will make an exception.
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"Glee" for D.C.
 Variety
A "Glee" Surprise in D.C.: As The Hill noted, "Only an event honoring Tammy Haddad could feature tributes from a White House adviser, multiple members of the media, and the cast of 'Glee.'"
Haddad, producer and media consultant, was honored at the Newseum on Wednesday by CURE -- Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy, hosted by the org's founder Susan Axelrod and one of its board members, Connie Milstein.
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Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy: This rare disorder is a call to arms for doctors and patients to control seizures
John Travolta's 16-year-old son, Jett, who suffered from uncontrolled seizures, died suddenly on Jan. 2, 2009, while on vacation with his family in the Bahamas. After an autopsy, “seizure” was listed as the cause of death. Later that year, in another heart-wrenching case, Steve Wulchin went to wake his 19-year-old son, Eric, and found him lying on the floor of their home in Boulder, CO. Eric, whose last seizure was six months before, had died unexpectedly during the night.John Travolta's 16-year-old son, Jett, who suffered from uncontrolled seizures, died suddenly on Jan. 2, 2009, while on vacation with his family in the Bahamas. After an autopsy, “seizure” was listed as the cause of death. Later that year, in another heart-wrenching case, Steve Wulchin went to wake his 19-year-old son, Eric, and found him lying on the floor of their home in Boulder, CO. Eric, whose last seizure was six months before, had died unexpectedly during the night.
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Few Birth Defects Seen With Newer Seizure Drugs
The use of the newer-generation antiepileptics during the first trimester of pregnancy was not associated with an increased risk of major birth defects, a large population-based cohort study found.
Among infants exposed to any of the newer antiepileptics, 3.2% had major birth defects, as did 2.4% of unexposed infants, according to Ditte Mølgaard-Nielsen, MSc, and Anders Hviid, DrMedSci, of Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen.
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Tracy Dixon-Salazar - A Mother's Love
CDMRP
 April 21, 2011 – Fifteen years ago, Tracy Dixon-Salazar had never heard of epilepsy. Today, she has a Ph.D. in Neurobiology and works at an epilepsy research lab at the University of California-San Diego.
Her achievement and accomplishment came at a price, however - Tracy's daughter, Savannah, suffers from Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, a childhood epilepsy. What began as an effort to read and learn more of her daughter's condition became a pursuit of a college degree, then graduate school.
"To this day, we have no idea why Savannah went from being a healthy, developing little girl to having all her potential robbed from her by uncontrollable seizures," Tracy said. "No medical test has ever yielded a cause for her seizures, and as her Mother, this torments me. I will never give up looking, though, and I have committed my life to helping future children who suffer from this have a brighter future."
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FDA Accepts Lundbeck Inc. Submission of New Drug Application for Clobazam
March 4, 2011
Lundbeck Inc. today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review a New Drug Application (NDA) for the investigational compound clobazam as adjunctive therapy in treating seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) in patients two years and older. The filing was assigned a standard review and an action letter is anticipated in October 2011. Additionally, Lundbeck announced Onfi™ (pronounced “on-fee”) as the proposed U.S. trade name for clobazam.
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Susan Axelrod: Chicagoan of the Year 2010
Chicago Magazine,
January, 2011
 In 1981, Susan Axelrod was a young mother tending to her seven-month-old baby, A doted-on firstborn. The baby, Lauren, was healthy and bouncy—and then one day she developed a cold. The next day, Lauren had a seizure, and another and another. The epileptic seizures, which continued for 18 years, caused significant developmental delays, and no cause has ever been identified. The lives of the Axelrod family changed forever.
Julius Caesar is said to have been afflicted with epilepsy, yet more than 2,000 years later, the disease remains in large part a mystery. Today more than 3 million Americans suffer from the seizure disorder, which has been called the neglected stepchild of neurological diseases. It causes 50,000 deaths a year in the United States—about the same as breast cancer.
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