Hikma to distribute Eisai’s epilepsy treatment Fycompa in Middle East

Perampanel is used as an adjunctive treatment of partial onset seizures, with or without secondarily generalised seizures, in patients with epilepsy aged 12 years and older.

The partnership will start immediately, with perampanel launches throughout the region expected to follow in 2015.

Hikma Pharmaceutical executive vice chairman, president and CEO of MENA and Emerging Markets Mazen Darwazah said, "We are committed to our partnership with Eisai, which supports our strategy of working with global partners to strengthen our product portfolio in growing therapeutic areas and to bring important treatment options to patients in the Middle East region."

Countries covered by the partnership will include the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Sudan, Iraq, Libya and Yemen.

Perampanel is the only licensed anti-epileptic drug (AED) designed to selectively target AMPA receptors, a protein in the brain which plays a major role in the spread of seizures.

Additionally, perampanel has the added benefit of convenient, once-daily dosing at bedtime.i