Objective To assess the tolerability and safety of Yinhuang injection in Chinese healthy volunteers. Methods Thirty-two healthy subjects were enrolled in the single-dose study. Each subject was administered one of the seven doses of 40, 120, 240, 320, 400, 480, and 560 mg, respectively, by intravenous injection. The sample sizes were 2, 4, 6, 6, 6, 4 and 4, respectively, for each dose group. Twelve healthy subjects were enrolled in the multi-dose study. The subjects in the lower dose group were administered 240 mg and the subjects in the higher dose group were administered 400 mg Yinhuang by intravenous injection once a day for consecutive 7 days. The sample sizes for both groups were 6. The safety was evaluated based on clinical symptoms, vital signs, physical examinations, electrocardiogram (ECG), laboratory tests and adverse events. All analyses were performed by using the software package SAS version 9.1. T-test and analysis of variance were used for continuous variables. Chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test were used for categorical variables.Results A total of 44 healthy volunteers completed the tolerance test. No serious adverse event and clinically significant changes in vital signs, ECG and laboratory tests were found in both single-dose groups and multi-dose groups. Among two mild adverse events, dizziness occurred in one subject in 480 mg dose group in the single-dose trial, which was probably related to the experimental drug. Conclusion Yinhuang injection is safe and well-tolerated in Chinese healthy subjects after administration of single-doses (40-560 mg) and multi-doses (240-400 mg once a day for consecutive 7 days). The maximum-tolerated dose of Yinhuang injection is at 560 mg in the single-dose trial. The dose regimen of 240-400 mg a day is recommended for phase II study.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the treatment retention rate of five new types of antiepileptic drugs:lamotrigine (LTG), topiramate (TPM), oxcarbazepine (OXC), levetiracetam (LEV) and gabapentin (GBP) and their tolerability. MethodsA total of 216 patients diagnosed as epilepsy by receiving the long-term video electroencephalography monitoring between October 2012 and October 2014 were randomized into five drug treatment groups (LTG, n=57; TPM, n=42; OXC, n=49; LEV, n=47; GBP, n=21) and received corresponding dose of drug therapy. The seizure frequency, adverse events and number of patients giving up therapy were collected and recorded via phone or interview every 4 weeks. Every follow-up retention rate of every drug group equals current patient number continuing therapy/initial patient number of this drug group×100%. When the trial ended, Kaplan-Meier curve and Cox proportional risk model were applied for statistical analysis. ResultsThe trial lasted for 106 weeks. The final retention rate of LTG was the highest (85.9%), and GBP was the lowest (14.3%). Most patients could continue the therapy until the end of the trial after 24 weeks. The leading causes of discontinuing therapy included:no efficacy, rash, sedation and aggressive behavior. ConclusionThe retention rate of new types of antiepileptic drugs is associated with these elements:drug efficacy, adverse events, individual tolerability of drug, drug accessibility and the patients' individual preference of drug administration.