Epilepsy Drug Development: The Journey Begins

With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to surge across the country, we have all taken a new interest in the drug development process. While development of a vaccine for COVID-19 has been a highly accelerated endeavor, Seizing Life is examining the standard process for developing and bringing an epilepsy drug to the public.

Today, in the first of a 4-part series exploring the drug development process and clinical trial participation, we speak with Dr. James Cloyd, the Lawrence C. Weaver Endowed Chair in Orphan Drug Development, and Director of the Center for Orphan Drug Research at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy. Dr. Cloyd takes us through the early stages of the development process from foundational basic research supported by organizations like CURE Epilepsy through preclinical studies and to the submission of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the FDA.  Dr. Cloyd details the process, explains the goals, timetables and protocols of each step, and provides an easy-to-understand description of how scientists, chemists, investigators, institutions and pharmaceutical companies all play a role in creating new drugs for epilepsy patients.

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