F – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Belgian drugmaker UCB SA's drug as an add-on therapy to treat partial seizures caused by epilepsy.
The FDA approval comes nearly two months after the European health regulators recommended approval of the drug, Briviact, in Europe.
Briviact has been approved for use in epileptic patients who are 16 years and older.
The Belgian drugmaker has been active in epilepsy drug research and development for over 20 years and treating the disease forms an important plank of its business.
Epilepsy is a chronic disorder of the brain characterized by recurrent seizures, which are brief episodes of abnormal brain activity.
About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, making it one of the most common neurological diseases globally, according to the World Health Organization. (Reporting by Rosmi Shaji in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
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