Epilepsy Therapy Project Launches First Comprehensive Epilepsy Pipeline as a Public Resource Identifying an Estimated 80 Product Candidates in Early- to Late-Stage Development

ETP Has Provided Funding and Expertise to More than 40 of the Most Promising Programs

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Epilepsy Therapy Project (ETP), a non-profit organization whose mission is to accelerate new therapies for people living with epilepsy and seizures, today launched a new and comprehensive pipeline documenting projects from early- to late-stage development on its website epilepsy.com.  The "Epilepsy Therapy Pipeline" has been created as a public resource to foster critical support for innovative new therapies.  ETP has provided financial support and valuable expertise to more than 40 of the 80 active new therapy projects in the pipeline including therapeutic drugs, biologics, devices and other treatments over the past decade. 

Approximately one third of people living with epilepsy have no therapy capable of controlling their seizures and even more must live with seizures and/or unacceptable treatment side effects.   SUDEP (Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy) and epilepsy-related mortality remain unsolved, especially affecting those with uncontrolled epilepsy.   

"For a physician, there is nothing more tragic than a person severely affected by a disorder for which there is no good treatment available.  In epilepsy, this is a daily experience," said Orrin Devinsky, M.D., Professor of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine, and Co-Founder of ETP.  "We need to advance new therapies that can reduce the severity, frequency, progressive nature, costs and fatalities associated with epilepsy and seizure conditions.  ETP is unique in its focus on new therapies in development."

The new ETP pipeline is designed to track and provide timely updates on product advances as a resource for patients, physicians, philanthropists, investors and industry partners.  The pipeline is available at http://www.epilepsy.com/etp/pipeline_new_therapies.  The epilepsy pipeline identifies the most promising products from early-stage development to commercial-stage, and whether a product is currently available in the US or internationally.  All products are categorized as follows: 

• Drugs
• Enhanced Drug Delivery
• Therapeutic Devices
• Dietary Supplements
• Seizure Detection & Prediction
• Epilepsy Diagnostics
• Newly Approved and Available for Patients
• Dormant Projects

The Epilepsy Therapy Project accelerates new product development by providing funding and scientific and business expertise, as well as by fostering partnerships with epilepsy non-profit organizations and industry.  Working collaboratively with other philanthropic organizations including the Epilepsy Foundation, the Milken Family Foundation, Finding a Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures (FACES) and Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE), ETP has been able to support clinical and pre-commercial progress for a wide range of new drugs, devices and products to enhance the treatment and lives of people with epilepsy.

"The Epilepsy Therapy Project plays a special role in the philanthropic community and the healthcare industry with our laser focus on accelerating the most promising therapies," said Warren Lammert, ETP Founder and Chairman.  Though we are a non-profit organization, we operate as a business in making our dollars work where they can have the greatest impact—weighing likely therapeutic effect, risk and timeline to success.  We actively invest in a diversified portfolio of exciting projects and products, and seek to make a real difference for people living with epilepsy.  It is encouraging that we have been able to contribute to such a breadth of innovative new approaches including pharmaceuticals, biologics and devices, and to see these projects make progress.  For this reason, we have invested our own expertise in creating the first comprehensive and publicly available pipeline that categorizes development programs in epilepsy."

"Epilepsy is a devastating condition that impacts more than 65 million infants, children and adults worldwide, yet lacks adequate therapies," added Roger J. Porter, M.D., ETP's Chief Scientific Officer.  "Currently ETP is funding a select number of the many exciting pipeline products identified in the U.S. and abroad.  We are also seeing significant growth in high-quality proposals through our New Therapy Grants program, which is a strong indicator of the increasing pace of innovation in epilepsy research.  We need to be in a position to support more programs and allocate deeper resources in order to truly accelerate the best therapies for people with epilepsy."

To learn more about products in early- through late-stage development, please visit, and continue to look for program and product updates at http://www.epilepsy.com/etp/pipeline_new_therapies. 

About the Epilepsy Therapy Project   
The Epilepsy Therapy Project is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization whose mission is to accelerate ideas into therapies for people living with epilepsy and seizures.  Founded in 2002 by a group of parents, distinguished physicians, and researchers, the Epilepsy Therapy Project supports the commercialization of new therapies through direct grants and investments in promising academic and commercial projects.  For more information about epilepsy, epilepsy treatment, the epilepsy pipeline or to donate, please visit our website, www.epilepsy.com or call 540.687.8077.

SOURCE Epilepsy Therapy Project