The Focused Ultrasound Foundation and CURE Epilepsy partnered to host a first-of-its-kind workshop on the role of focused ultrasound for the treatment of epilepsy. More than 50 attendees convened in person in Charlottesville, Virginia, and others participated virtually.
The group assessed the current state of the science, critically evaluated ongoing studies, and identified remaining gaps and burning questions. The primary objectives were to develop a two-year roadmap that outlines the most effective path forward and create a collaborative environment that enables rapid progress, including standardization of methodologies and sharing of results.
Focused ultrasound companies Insightec, NaviFUS, and SPIRE Therapeutics also sponsored the meeting.
The program was designed around a series of panel discussions, enabling a wide range of experts to share their thoughts on each burning question.
On the first day, panelists addressed the state of the field for using focused ultrasound to treat epilepsy by discussing the following burning questions:
What are the clinical unmet needs? What do we know about what low-intensity focused ultrasound does to the brain? What kind of target do we need and how to define it? What is the best method to target for neuromodulation? What are the best focused ultrasound neuromodulation parameters to move into clinical trials? What safety issues should be reported in clinical studies with focused ultrasound neuromodulation? What are future directions and focused ultrasound mechanism of actions? On the final half day, two panel discussions covered device and clinical trial design, with prompts such as:
What is the dream machine? What are the ideal clinical trial designs from the perspective of physicians (also keeping in mind patient experience)? Notably, two patient advocates addressed the group to share their unique perspectives. One patient has lived with epilepsy for decades, and her disease has not been well controlled by medications or surgical procedures. She appealed to the group about the importance of advancing new therapeutic options and the hope that something like focused ultrasound offers. The second patient recently underwent focused ultrasound treatment for epilepsy and shared his life-changing experience.
“We are incredibly appreciative to have partnered with Laura Lubbers, PhD, from CURE Epilepsy on this workshop as she added her great depth of knowledge in this space to help make the agenda most impactful,” said Suzanne LeBlang, MD, the Foundation’s director of clinical relationships. “Given the recent increase in the number of clinical trials using low-intensity focused ultrasound for epilepsy, the Foundation was inspired to convene experts and move the field forward. Neurosurgeons, neuro-epileptologists, neuroradiologists, regulatory personnel, and industry representatives engaged in transparent discussions sharing knowledge and ideas. Additional interest was evident in pursuing focused ultrasound ablation and blood-brain barrier opening with therapeutic delivery.”
