Important Facts For Prelims
Epilepsy
- 20 Feb 2021
- 2 min read
Why in News
Recently, a major drugmaker has developed the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and the finished dosage formulation of Brivanext, a drug for epilepsy.
Key Points
- Epilepsy:
- Epilepsy is a central nervous system (neurological) disorder in which brain activity becomes abnormal, causing seizures or periods of unusual behavior, sensations, and sometimes loss of awareness.
- Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder and affects people of all ages.
- Anyone can develop epilepsy, but it’s more common in young children and older adults. It occurs slightly more in males than in females.
- Symptoms:
- Alterations to sense of taste, smell, sight, hearing, or touch, dizziness, tingling and twitching of limbs, Staring blankly, unresponsiveness, performing repetitive movements.
- It may or may not involve loss of awareness or consciousness.
- Cure:
- There’s no cure for epilepsy, but the disorder can be managed with medications and other strategies.
- Initiative to Raise Awareness: In 2019, a report Epilepsy, a public health imperative was released by the World Health Organization.
- It is the first global report on epilepsy summarizing the available evidence on the burden of epilepsy and the public health response required at global, regional and national levels.
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)
- APIs, also called bulk drugs, are significant ingredients in the manufacture of drugs. The Hubei province of China is the hub of the API manufacturing industry.
- India is heavily import-dependent for APIs from China. India’s API imports stand at around $3.5 billion per year, and around 70%, or $2.5 billion, come from China.
