Intramucosal Lorazepam spray: Whole Cell and Extracellular Eelctrophysiological Study of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics

Epileptic patients have a long term risk of recurrent seizures and the mainstay of treatment for controlling seizures is antiepileptic drugs. Management of epileptic emergencies usually requires hospitalization and the administration of intravenous (i.v.) anticonvulsant drugs. Lorazepam i.v. is the most effective treatment of status epilepticus, and therefore is routinely used in hospital emergency departments. Since most acute epileptic seizures start in a non-clinical setting, an effective, rapid, convenient and safe treatment, which does not require parenteral drug administration to abort seizure symptoms and signs and prevent emergencies, is highly desirable. A new oral spray formulation of Lorazepam, which is currently under investigation, has the potential to provide a fast, rapidly absorbed and efficient treatment of acute seizure symptoms and signs in both clinical and non-clinical settings. The main goal of this research is to study the effectiveness of Lorazepam oral spray in seizure termination using electrophysiological methods in animals.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Peter Carlen

Student:

Lihua Wang

Partner:

Eastgate Pharmaceuticals

Discipline:

Pharmacy / Pharmacology

Sector:

Life sciences

University:

University of Toronto