Epilepsy Foundation

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The Epilepsy Foundation, also Epilepsy Foundation of America (EFA), is a non-profit national foundation, headquartered in Bowie, Maryland, [1] dedicated to the welfare of people with epilepsy and seizure disorders. The foundation was established in 1968 and now has a network of 59 affiliates. The foundation's programs aim to "ensure that people with seizures are able to participate in all life experiences; and to prevent, control and cure epilepsy through research, education, advocacy and services."

Contents

The Epilepsy Foundation came into existence as the result of a merger of the Epilepsy Association of America and the Epilepsy Foundation in 1967. It has since been joined by the National Epilepsy League. In December 2012, it merged with The Epilepsy Therapy Project. The mission of the Foundation in 2012 was to "stop seizures and SUDEP, find a cure and overcome the challenges created by epilepsy through efforts including education, advocacy and research to accelerate ideas into therapies". [2] The new mission of the Foundation is "To Lead The Fight To Overcome The Challenges Of Living With Epilepsy And To Accelerate Therapies To Stop Seizures, Find Cures, And Save Lives." [3] Programs included educational, counseling, referral, and employment assistance. In addition the EFA has advisory and youth programs, training grants and programs.

2008 forum invasion

On March 28, 2008, Wired News reported that "Internet griefers"—a slang term for people whose only interests are in harassing others [4] —assaulted an epilepsy support forum run by the Epilepsy Foundation of America. [5] JavaScript code and flashing computer animations were posted to trigger migraine headaches and seizures in people with photosensitive or pattern-sensitive epilepsy. [5] According to Wired News, circumstantial evidence suggested that the attack was perpetrated by Anonymous users, with the initial attack posts on the epilepsy forum blaming eBaum's World. Members of the epilepsy forum claimed they had found a thread in which the attack was being planned at 7chan.org, an imageboard that has been described as a stronghold for Anonymous. The thread, like all old threads eventually do on these types of imageboards, has since cycled to deletion. [5]

RealTechNews [ unreliable source? ] reported that the forum at the United Kingdom-based National Society for Epilepsy, now called Epilepsy Society was also subjected to an identical attack. It stated that "apparent members of Anonymous" had denied responsibility for both attacks and posted that it had been the Church of Scientology who carried them out. [6] News.com.au reported that the administrators of 7chan.org had posted an open letter claiming that the attacks had been carried out by the Church of Scientology "to ruin the public opinion of Anonymous, to lessen the effect of the lawful protests against their virulent organization" under the Church's fair game policy. [4] The church has previously been involved in false flag operations to frame and discredit groups or peoples it disagrees with such as Operation Freakout and Gabe Cazares.[ improper synthesis? ][ citation needed ]

The Tech Herald[ unreliable source? ] reported that when the attack began, posts referenced multiple groups, including Anonymous. The report attributes the attack to a group named "The Internet Hate Machine" (a reference to the KTTV Fox 11 news report), who claim to be part of Anonymous, but are not the same faction that are involved in the campaign against Scientology. [7] Some Anonymous participants of Project Chanology suggest that the perpetrators are Internet users who merely remained anonymous in the literal sense, and thus had no affiliation with the larger anti-Scientology efforts attributed to Anonymous. [7] During an interview with CNN, Scientologist Tommy Davis accused Anonymous of hacking into the Epilepsy Foundation website to make it display imagery intended to cause epileptic seizures. Interviewer John Roberts contended the FBI said that it "found nothing to connect this group Anonymous (with these actions)," and that it also has "no reason to believe that these charges will be leveled against this group." [8] The response was that the matter was on the hands of local law enforcement and that there were ongoing investigations. [8]

Controversy

According to a Wall Street Journal report in 2006, the foundation, with its local affiliates, was lobbying for state laws in 25 states that would prevent pharmacists from substituting generic epilepsy drugs for brand-name drugs unless the pharmacist had written consent of the physician or patient. The pharmaceutical industry was also lobbying state legislatures for the change, and working with the foundation.

The pharmaceutical industry spent $8.8 million in state campaign contributions in 2006. In its annual report, the Epilepsy Foundation reported that it got $500,000 to $999,999 from GlaxoSmithKline, and $100,000 to $499,999 from each of Abbott Laboratories and Johnson & Johnson. At the time of publication, representatives of four pharmaceutical companies sat on the Epilepsy Foundation's board, as did Billy Tauzin, head of PhRMA, which gave $25,000 to $49,999. The Foundation denied that pharmaceutical funding had anything to do with its support of the laws.

Generic drug substitution is significant, because four major branded drugs, with that generated $5 billion revenue, went off-patent in 2010. (At the time the five best-selling drugs were Topamax, Lamictal, Lyrica, Keppra and Depakote.) Pharmacists can substitute generics, because every generic drug, in order to be approved, has to demonstrate that it is equivalent to the branded drug.[ citation needed ]

The Epilepsy Foundation received anecdotal reports of patients experiencing seizures and side effects after switching drugs, and tried to convince the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1999 that there was a problem, but the FDA decided there was no evidence. In 2006, foundation leaders convened a committee of medical experts, and its own experts also found no evidence. Nonetheless, they recommended that doctors be required to give permission to switch their patients' prescriptions to generic drugs. Gary Buehler, at the time the director of the FDA's office of generic drugs, said, "The only way you can somehow pin this down is to do a good study." [9] [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valproate</span> Medication used for epilepsy, bipolar disorder and migraine

Valproate are medications primarily used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder and prevent migraine headaches. They are useful for the prevention of seizures in those with absence seizures, partial seizures, and generalized seizures. They can be given intravenously or by mouth, and the tablet forms exist in both long- and short-acting formulations.

Anticonvulsants are a diverse group of pharmacological agents used in the treatment of epileptic seizures. Anticonvulsants are also increasingly being used in the treatment of bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, since many seem to act as mood stabilizers, and for the treatment of neuropathic pain. Anticonvulsants suppress the excessive rapid firing of neurons during seizures. Anticonvulsants also prevent the spread of the seizure within the brain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Topiramate</span> Medication used to treat epilepsy and migraine

Topiramate, sold under the brand name Topamax among others, is a medication used to treat epilepsy and prevent migraines. It has also been used in alcohol dependence and essential tremor. For epilepsy this includes treatment for generalized or focal seizures. It is taken orally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lamotrigine</span> Medication used for bipolar disorder, epilepsy, & many seizure disorders

Lamotrigine, sold under the brand name Lamictal among others, is a medication used to treat epilepsy and stabilize mood in bipolar disorder. For epilepsy, this includes focal seizures, tonic-clonic seizures, and seizures in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. In bipolar disorder, lamotrigine has not been shown to reliably treat acute depression for all groups except in the severely depressed; but for patients with bipolar disorder who are not currently symptomatic, it appears to reduce the risk of future episodes of depression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prescription drug</span> Medication legally requiring a medical prescription before it can be dispensed

A prescription drug is a pharmaceutical drug that is permitted to be dispensed only to those with a medical prescription. In contrast, over-the-counter drugs can be obtained without a prescription. The reason for this difference in substance control is the potential scope of misuse, from drug abuse to practicing medicine without a license and without sufficient education. Different jurisdictions have different definitions of what constitutes a prescription drug.

Photosensitive epilepsy (PSE) is a form of epilepsy in which seizures are triggered by visual stimuli that form patterns in time or space, such as flashing lights; bold, regular patterns; or regular moving patterns. PSE affects approximately one in 4,000 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Levetiracetam</span> Medication

Levetiracetam, sold under the brand name Keppra among others, is a medication used to treat epilepsy. It is used for partial-onset, myoclonic, or tonic–clonic seizures and is taken either by mouth as an immediate or extended release formulation or by injection into a vein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vigabatrin</span> Epilepsy medication

Vigabatrin, sold under the brand names Sabril and Vigpoder, is a medication used to treat epilepsy. It became available as a generic medication in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clobazam</span> Benzodiazepine class medication

Clobazam, sold under the brand names Frisium, Onfi and others, is a benzodiazepine class medication that was patented in 1968. Clobazam was first synthesized in 1966 and first published in 1969. Clobazam was originally marketed as an anxioselective anxiolytic since 1970, and an anticonvulsant since 1984. The primary drug-development goal was to provide greater anxiolytic, anti-obsessive efficacy with fewer benzodiazepine-related side effects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Felbamate</span> Chemical compound

Felbamate is an anticonvulsant used in the treatment of epilepsy. It is used to treat partial seizures in adults and partial and generalized seizures associated with Lennox–Gastaut syndrome in children. However, an increased risk of potentially fatal aplastic anemia and/or liver failure limit the drug's usage to severe refractory epilepsy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paramethadione</span> Chemical compound

Paramethadione is an anticonvulsant drug of the chemical class called oxazolidinediones developed by the Illinois-based pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories, and approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1949 for the treatment of absence seizures, also called partial seizures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carisbamate</span> Experimental anticonvulsant drug

Carisbamate is an experimental anticonvulsant drug that was under development by Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development but never marketed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Febuxostat</span> Chemical compound

Febuxostat, sold under the brand names Uloric among others, is a medication used long-term to treat gout due to high uric acid levels. It is generally recommended only for people who cannot take allopurinol. When initially started, medications such as NSAIDs are often recommended to prevent gout flares. It is taken by mouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brivaracetam</span> Medication used to treat seizures

Brivaracetam, sold under the brand name Briviact among others, is a chemical analog of levetiracetam, a racetam derivative with anticonvulsant (antiepileptic) properties. It is marketed by the pharmaceutical company UCB.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lacosamide</span> Anticonvulsant and analgesic medication

Lacosamide, sold under the brand name Vimpat among others, is a medication used for the treatment of partial-onset seizures and primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures. It is used by mouth or intravenously.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Retigabine</span> Anticonvulsant, which works as a potassium-channel opener

Retigabine (INN) or ezogabine (USAN) is an anticonvulsant used as an adjunctive treatment for partial epilepsies in treatment-experienced adult patients. The drug was developed by Valeant Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline. It was approved by the European Medicines Agency under the trade name Trobalt on March 28, 2011, and by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), under the trade name Potiga, on June 10, 2011. Production was discontinued in June 2017.

Anonymous is a decentralized virtual community. They are commonly referred to as an internet-based collective of hacktivists whose goals, like its organization, are decentralized. Anonymous seeks mass awareness and revolution against what the organization perceives as corrupt entities, while attempting to maintain anonymity. Anonymous has had a hacktivist impact. This is a timeline of activities reported to be carried out by the group.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aubrey Cottle</span> Webmaster

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References

  1. ↑ "Contact Us". June 4, 2019. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Epilepsy Foundation And Epilepsy Therapy Project Finalize Merger To Create Strong, Unified Organization To Support People With Epilepsy". December 26, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2013.
  3. ↑ "About the Foundation". June 4, 2019. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  4. 1 2 Andrew Ramadge (April 1, 2008). "Anonymous attack targets epilepsy sufferers". News.com.au. Retrieved April 1, 2008.
  5. 1 2 3 Kevin Poulsen (March 28, 2008). "Hackers Assault Epilepsy Patients via Computer". Wired News . Retrieved April 1, 2008.
  6. ↑ Michael Santo (March 29, 2008). "Hackers Attack Epilepsy Forum; Cause Headaches, Seizures". [RealTechNews]. Underground Networks. Archived from the original on March 31, 2008. Retrieved April 1, 2008.
  7. 1 2 Steve Ragan (March 31, 2008). "Targeted physical attack takes aim at Epilepsy". The Tech Herald. Archived from the original on April 7, 2008. Retrieved April 2, 2008.
  8. 1 2 Scientology vs Anonymous, Critics take it to the web. CNN. Event occurs at 0:50–1:38. Archived from the original on 2008-05-13. Retrieved June 27, 2008.
  9. ↑ Pill push: Industry fights switch to generics for epilepsy, big drug makers help patient groups lobby; more attention to states, Sarah Rubenstein, The Wall Street Journal, July 13, 2007. Free full text Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ Big Pharma States Its Case by Joe Mantone, Wall Street Journal Health Blog, July 13, 2007, 6:53 am
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