MIAMI, FL — Miami Children’s Hospital is a key member of a nationwide group of medical centers that have been awarded a $17 million grant from the
National Institute of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke – a division of the National Institutes of Health – for a clinical research study of childhood absence (petit mal) epilepsy.
The grant funds a comparison of the three most commonly used anti-epileptic drugs for absence seizures, which account for 10 to 15 percent of all cases of epilepsy in children. The goal is to determine the best initial medicine for childhood absence epilepsy. The five-year study will enroll 439 children – ages 2 to 13 – at 20 sites throughout the country. Miami Children’s Hospital is one of these sites.
The grant is the largest ever awarded for a clinical research study of pediatric epilepsy, and the clinical trial will be the largest head-to-head comparison of available drugs for the treatment of pediatric epilepsy trial ever conducted, said
Michael Duchowny, M.D., Director of the
Comprehensive Epilepsy Program at MCH.
In addition to the clinical trial, the grant funds pharmacokinetic and pharmacogenetic research on how these medicines act in children with childhood absence epilepsy. Pharmacokinetics is the study of how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes and excretes drugs. Pharmacogenetics is the study of genetic determinants of the response to drugs.
“We want to identify the factors underlying individual variations. Why do some drugs succeed and others fail in some patients? Why do some have side effects while others do not? And what are the effects on cognition, behavior and learning?” said Dr. Duchowny. “This is the first step toward our goal of making it possible for physicians to predict patient response and tailor childhood epilepsy therapies for individual needs.”
About Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, Where Children Matter Most (2024)
Founded in 1950 by Variety Clubs International, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital is South
Florida’s only licensed specialty hospital exclusively for children, with approximately
850 attending physicians, including more than 500 pediatric subspecialists. The 307-bed
hospital is renowned for excellence in all aspects of pediatric medicine with many specialty programs
routinely ranked among the best in the nation by U.S. News & World Report since 2008. The
hospital is also home to the largest pediatric teaching program in the southeastern
United States and since 2003 has been designated an American Nurses Credentialing
Center (ANCC) Magnet facility, the nursing profession’s most prestigious institutional
honor. For more information, please visit www.nicklauschildrens.org.