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UCB celebrates International Epilepsy Day and new horizons in disease management

Picture of author Chris Clark
Posted by
Chris Clark, Patient Value Unit - Neurology
12-Feb-2018
Today marks International Epilepsy Day 2018, an annual event promoting awareness of epilepsy in more than 120 countries.

UCB is proud to support the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE) and the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) in their activities to highlight the problems faced by people with epilepsy, their families, and carers.

This year, the IBE and ILAE are running a photography competition centred on the theme ‘Life is Beautiful’ which aims to highlight how life can be beautiful despite an epilepsy diagnosis. Improving the overall epilepsy patient experience is central to UCB’s patient value strategy and we continually strive to explore new and innovative ways to support patients to live their lives to the fullest.

We believe we are entering an exciting new era in the management of epilepsy, transitioning from a symptom-led approach to disease management towards creating targeted solutions that support the patient across the spectrum of care – from prevention and prediction to treatment and self-management. This paradigm shift drives us to search for new ways to combine our leadership in complex treatments with technologies of all kinds to improve lives.

There remains an immediate need within the epilepsy community for innovative treatments and disease management solutions, with around 30 – 40% of patients still experiencing uncontrolled seizures. As well as discovering and developing novel treatments for underserved patient populations, we are also working with a broad range of partners to co-create innovative technology solutions for patients.

Examples of our partnerships include the IMI RADAR initiative, which works to refine and improve intervention and treatment strategies with the use of remote monitoring of patients.  We are addressing treatment management through our SeizeIT consortium which develops wearable technologies to monitor seizure occurrence. And, with our Eliprio programme, in partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology, we’re also exploring how, by harnessing predictive analytics and machine learning, we can better personalize treatment for people with epilepsy, potentially expediting their pathway to an effective anti-epilepsy medicine. Through partnerships like these with industry, academic institutions, and non-profit organisations, we are already seeing exciting developments with the potential to dramatically improve patient experiences.

Looking ahead, we are excited to continue this work at the upcoming Epilepsy Pipeline Conference on 22 February in San Francisco, where we will be taking part in discussions around investments in epilepsy treatments and pre-clinical treatments on the horizon.

We are on the precipice of change for the treatment of epilepsy, and by working together we can help patients to live their lives to their ideal.

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Comment:
Posted by Peter Mitterhofer, 14 February 2018

Congrats! This is a shining example how to work holisticly for the people living with epilepsy