Antidepressants are a class of medications used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, chronic pain, and addiction.
A mood stabilizer is a psychiatric medication used to treat mood disorders characterized by intense and sustained mood shifts, such as bipolar disorder and the bipolar type of schizoaffective disorder.
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.
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.
Duloxetine, sold under the brand name Cymbalta among others, is a medication used to treat major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, fibromyalgia, neuropathic pain and central sensitization. It is taken by mouth.
Flumazenil is a selective GABAA receptor antagonist administered via injection, otic insertion, or intranasally. Therapeutically, it acts as both an antagonist and antidote to benzodiazepines, through competitive inhibition.
Tiagabine is an anticonvulsant medication produced by Cephalon that is used in the treatment of epilepsy. The drug is also used off-label in the treatment of anxiety disorders and panic disorder.
Primidone, sold under various brand names, is a barbiturate medication that is used to treat partial and generalized seizures and essential tremors. It is taken by mouth.
Viloxazine, sold under the brand name Qelbree and formerly as Vivalan among others, is a selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor medication which is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adults. It was marketed for almost 30 years as an antidepressant for the treatment of depression before being discontinued and subsequently repurposed as a treatment for ADHD. Viloxazine is taken orally. It was used as an antidepressant in an immediate-release form and is used in ADHD in an extended-release form.
Zonisamide, sold under the brand name Zonegran among others, is a medication used to treat the symptoms of epilepsy and Parkinson's disease. Chemically it is a sulfonamide. It serves as an anticonvulsant used primarily as an adjunctive therapy in adults with Parkinson's disease, partial-onset seizures; infantile spasm, mixed seizure types of Lennox–Gastaut syndrome, myoclonic and generalized tonic clonic seizure. Despite this it is also sometimes used as a monotherapy for partial-onset seizures.
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.
Dravet syndrome (DS), previously known as severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy (SMEI), is an autosomal dominant genetic disorder which causes a catastrophic form of epilepsy, with prolonged seizures that are often triggered by hot temperatures or fever. It is very difficult to treat with anticonvulsant medications. It often begins before one year of age, with six months being the age that seizures, characterized by prolonged convulsions and triggered by fever, usually begin.
Esketamine, sold under the brand names Spravato and Ketanest among others, is the S(+) enantiomer of ketamine. It is a dissociative hallucinogen drug used as a general anesthetic and as an antidepressant for treatment of depression. It is sold under the Esketamine is the active enantiomer of ketamine in terms of NMDA receptor antagonism and is more potent than racemic ketamine.
Midafotel is a potent, competitive antagonist at the NMDA receptor. It was originally designed as a potential therapy for excitotoxicity, epilepsy or neuropathic pain. It looked very promising in in vitro trials proving to be a potent competitive antagonist at the NMDA without affecting other receptors. Research continued through to in vivo cat studies where it proved to limit damage after occluding the middle cerebral artery, leading to ischaemia. It also blocked photosensitive epilepsies in baboons.
Remacemide is a drug which acts as a low-affinity NMDA antagonist with sodium channel blocking properties. It has been studied for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke, epilepsy, Huntington's disease, and Parkinson's disease.
Phentermine/topiramate, sold under the brand name Qsymia, is a combination drug of phentermine and topiramate used to treat obesity. It is used together with dietary changes and exercise. If less than 3% weight loss is seen after 3 months it is recommended the medication be stopped. The weight loss is modest. Effects on heart related health problems or death is unclear.
Cariprazine, sold under the brand names Vraylar, Reagila and Symvenu among others, is an atypical antipsychotic developed by Gedeon Richter, which is used in the treatment of schizophrenia, bipolar mania, bipolar depression, and major depressive disorder. It acts primarily as a D3 and D2 receptor partial agonist, with a preference for the D3 receptor. Cariprazine is also a partial agonist at the serotonin 5-HT1A receptor and acts as an antagonist at 5-HT2B and 5-HT2A receptors, with high selectivity for the D3 receptor. It is taken by mouth.
JNJ-26990990 is a broad-spectrum anticonvulsant drug currently under development by Janssen Pharmaceutica as a second-generation follow-up to the marketed drug topiramate. It was designed to have the same anticonvulsant effects as topiramate, but without the side effects associated with topiramate's carbonic anhydrase inhibition. It also has potential use in the treatment of inflammatory pain, neuropathic pain, and depression.
An orexin receptor antagonist, or orexin antagonist, is a drug that inhibits the effect of orexin by acting as a receptor antagonist of one (selective orexin receptor antagonist or SORA) or both (dual orexin receptor antagonis or DORA) of the orexin receptors, OX1 and OX2. Medical applications include treatment of sleep disorders such as insomnia.
Brexpiprazole, sold under the brand name Rexulti among others, is a medication used for the treatment of major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and agitation associated with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. It is an atypical antipsychotic.
