New Treatments & Clinical Trials for Epilepsy

Epilepsy affects about 3.4 million people in the U.S., causing recurrent seizures that vary widely in type and severity. About 70% of people gain seizure control with medications, but a third continue having seizures despite trying multiple drugs. Treatment options now include more than 30 anti-seizure medications, brain surgery, nerve stimulation devices, and dietary therapies.

What's actually going on in research

Trials are testing new anti-seizure medications with different mechanisms, including drugs that modulate potassium channels and GABA receptors. Researchers are studying gene therapies for genetic epilepsies like Dravet syndrome and CDKL5 deficiency, brain-responsive neurostimulation devices that detect and stop seizures before they spread, and precision approaches based on specific genetic mutations or seizure origins.

What to know before you search

Eligibility typically depends on seizure frequency, number of medications tried, seizure type, and sometimes genetic testing results or MRI findings showing where seizures start.

What types of trials are currently open

• Drug trials — Testing new anti-seizure medications, often as add-on therapy for people whose seizures aren't controlled. These trials typically track seizure frequency over several months.
• Device trials — Studies of neurostimulation devices, including responsive systems that detect and interrupt seizures, and vagus nerve stimulators that deliver regular pulses to prevent seizures.
• Gene therapy trials — Testing one-time treatments that deliver a working copy of a gene or modify gene expression in people with genetic epilepsies.
• Surgical trials — Comparing different surgical approaches for drug-resistant epilepsy, including laser ablation and traditional resection.
• Biomarker studies — Following people with epilepsy to identify patterns in EEG, imaging, or blood tests that predict treatment response or seizure risk.