A Potential Game-Changer for Hard-to-Treat Epilepsy

Bright Minds Biosciences is starting the year off with some good news …

The company just reported positive topline results from its Phase 2 clinical trial of BMB-101. This is Bright Minds’ lead candidate, which is an anti-seizure therapy designed to work through a very specific serotonin pathway in the brain.

The goal is to precisely target seizure-modulating brain circuits without triggering other serotonin receptors.

Now in this Phase 2 study, BMB-101 delivered statistically significant seizure reductions across both arms of the trial:

• Absence Seizures: A 73.1% median reduction in seizures lasting ≥3 seconds.

• DEE (Developmental & Encephalopathic Epilepsies): 63.3% median reduction in major motor seizures.

Researchers also found that BMB-101 delivered a 90% increase in REM sleep in the absence cohort without increasing total sleep time.

This isn’t trivial, as this is the sleep phase that consolidates memory, stabilizes mood, and supports cognitive processing. If a drug can improve neurological function while suppressing seizures, it’s addressing both symptoms and quality-of-life.

Bright Minds is currently preparing a global registrational trial in both absence epilepsy and DEE. And a Prader-Willi Syndrome study (a rare genetic condition that leads to physical, mental and behavioral problems) is expected to begin in Q1, expanding the clinical footprint of BMB-101 into another high-unmet-need CNS disorder.

You can read more about the company’s epilepsy program here.