Current and emerging drug therapies for the treatment of depression in adults with epilepsy

Introduction: Depression is the most frequent psychiatric comorbidity among people with epilepsy. It can impact on quality of life and increases the risk of morbidity and premature mortality.

Areas covered: The authors review the available data on current and emerging drug treatments for depression in epilepsy. Sources have been identified through Medline/PubMed searches while ongoing clinical trials have been identified through a ClinicalTrials.gov search.

Expert opinion: SSRIs are the drug class with the largest amount of data. Though promising, the level of evidence provided by these studies is still low as the majority have relevant methodological limitations. Antiepileptic drugs under development have the unique opportunity to be of multi-use in the treatment of epilepsy and depression. The serotoninergic system has already been identified as a potential area of interest, but new targets are still needed in epilepsy and depression. For this reason, it is important that basic scientists working on these two conditions develop collaborative projects and integrate findings.