Epilepsy Talk

Where’s the funding? Epilepsy as an orphan.

Here are the facts, unhappy though they may be…

Epilepsy is the 4th most common neurological problem – only migraine, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease occurs more frequently.

Its prevalence is greater than autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease combined.

As many people die from epilepsy as from breast cancer.

There are 150,000 new cases of epilepsy diagnosed each year, and a total of more than 3.4 million Americans are affected by it.

Yet, public and private funding for epilepsy research lags far behind other neurological afflictions, at $35 a patient (compared, for instance, with $129 for Alzheimer’s and $280 for multiple sclerosis).