Scientists have recently announced the design of a refined, more effective version of Epilepsy drug retigabine – which should offer potential patients fewer unwanted side effects.

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Arts & Sciences hope that their refined version of the drug, named RL-81, will waive the troublesome side effects which have traditionally plagued retigabine – most notably urinary retention, skin discolouration and, in the worst cases, retinal abnormalities.

Thanos Tzounopoulos, PhD, senior investigator on the School’s project said: “Unfortunately, these [traditional] drugs don’t work well in nearly a third of patients and there is a great need for better treatments.

“We have been able to refine an existing medication so that it acts selectively on certain nerve cell membrane transport channels, which should make it more effective.”

Whereas standard retigabine works by activating multiple transport channels, the researchers have cleverly redesigned the drug’s structural components so that they only focus on stabilising the cell membrane of the specific brain cells involved in epilepsy and similar disorders.

Researchers believe that the modified drug, which works by reducing the excitability of brain cells to decrease the threat of seizures, should, in theory, cause fewer side effects in patients.