Concern about epilepsy drug switch

The Irish Medicines Board (IMB) is to be called before an Oireachtas committee to explain its policy of licensing generic drugs as substitutes for brand-name drugs in the treatment of epilepsy.

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children was told yesterday the use of generic drugs could cause "serious damage to every aspect" of epileptics' lives.

The chairman of the committee, John Maloney, said he would invite the IMB to address it following a call from member Dr Jimmy Devins TD to do so.

Dr Devins said it was "huge information" to him that the IMB could license generic drugs as substitutes for brand-name anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) and that there could be a 20 per cent variation, higher or lower, of a key ingredient of the brand-name AED in the generic drug.

Michael Glynn, chief executive of Brainwave, The Irish Epilepsy Association, told the committee this was causing enormous anxiety to people with epilepsy as it was vital that the combination of AEDs they took remained constant. Otherwise their seizures could return with implications for their work, their right to hold a driving licence and for their quality of life.

He said pharmacists and GPs were often unaware of the potential implications of switching a branded AED for a cheaper generic version.

Describing the problem as "like a sword of Damocles" hanging over epileptics' lives, he called for a "change in the law protecting AEDs from inappropriate switching".

"When you go to the shop to buy a packet of Kellogg's corn flakes you do not expect to received a Brand X packet of corn flakes and be told it's the very same thing. It is much more important to ensure that every time you go to your pharmacy you receive the same brand of AED every time. An inappropriate generic AED could cause serious damage to every aspect of your life."

He said there were about 40,000 people with epilepsy in Ireland and that less than half of these had their seizures controlled even though up to 70 per cent can have them controlled through the use of the correct AEDs.

He said it was "very difficult" for the organisation to warn all people with epilepsy of the possible threat of AED switching.