The University of Utah College of Pharmacy is getting $24.5 million of federal money to research treatments for drug-resistant epilepsy.
School officials announced Monday that they are receiving a five-year contract with the Anticonvulsant Drug Development Program within the National Institutes of Health. The program has received the support continuously since 1974.
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by repeated seizures. More than 3 million people in the U.S. and 50 million people worldwide are affected by it.
The disease is most commonly treated with medication, but researchers say about 30 percent of people with epilepsy still have uncontrolled seizures or intolerable medication side effects.
Utah’s program has participated in developing the majority of new anti-epilepsy drugs introduced to clinical use in the United States during the past 30 years.
Source: Washington Examiner
