Effect of levetiracetam on cardiac repolarization in healthy subjects: a single-dose, randomized, placebo- and active-controlled, four-way crossover study.

Background: Nonantiarrhythmic drugs may have the potential to prolong the QT interval, leading to potentially fatal ventricular tachycardias, including torsades de pointes.

Objective: This study evaluated the potential of the newer-generation, multiple-action antiepileptic drug levetiracetam, which binds to the synaptic vesicle protein SV2A, to affect cardiac repolarization, as detected by prolongation of the QT/corrected QT (QTc) interval.

Methods: This was a single-dose, randomized, placebo- and active-controlled, 4-way crossover study in healthy subjects.

Prospective assessment of levetiracetam pharmacokinetics during dose escalation in 4- to 12-year-old children with partial-onset seizures on concomitant carbamazepine or valproate.

Purpose: To assess the multiple-dose pharmacokinetics of levetiracetam and its major metabolite ucb L057 in children with partial-onset seizures and determine whether it is affected by adjunctive carbamazepine or valproate. To correlate levetiracetam concentrations in plasma and saliva and to assess its safety and clinical response.

Methods: Design was an open-label, multicenter study.