Empowered Patient Podcast

Nayla Chaijale, Medical Strategy Lead for Rare Syndromes at UCB, describes Dravet syndrome, a rare, medication-resistant epileptic encephalopathy that involves seizures and significant co-morbidities like cognitive and developmental delays. Their approved drug FINTEPLA has a unique mechanism of action that modulates pathways in the brain and has demonstrated a significant reduction in the frequency of convulsive seizures in those with this condition. Nayla notes that the good news is that most patients with Dravet syndrome have a mutation in the SCN1A gene, a critical biomarker that enables accurate diagnosis. Nayla explains, "So, Dravet syndrome is a rare condition in epilepsy, and what we call it is neurodevelopmental and epileptic encephalopathy. I'm just going to call it DEEs, to say that it's a rare epileptic syndrome. Even though it's very rare, it's also very burdensome for the patients and their families. So, people living with these conditions start having the symptoms at a very early age, between tw