As we enter into a new year, I would like to say thank you for participating in the epilepsy.com community, and I want to ask you for your support. Epilepsy.com and our parent, the Epilepsy Therapy Project , have been built by patients, families and professionals working to advance new therapies for people living with epilepsy. In 2005, we made progress in building epilepsy.com into a comprehensive resource and community providing in-depth information on epilepsy and available therapies, and our audience grew to more than 200,000 unique visitors each month. Our New Therapy Grants (made in partnership with the Epilepsy Foundation, the NYU Finding a Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures and the Milken Family Foundation) supported eight new projects with $800,000 in total support. Our strategic investments and support of new companies and therapies underpinned the progress of several promising therapies and helped foster partnerships that will provide funding for very costly later stage clinical trials. Finally, we were fortunate to have Bill Braunlich, the past Chairman of the Epilepsy Foundation, join us as our new full-time President.

New therapies in epilepsy are badly needed as are funds to drive them out of the lab and into commercial development. Some 2.8 million people in the US alone live with epilepsy. While the last 10 years have brought new therapies to patients, very marginal progress has been made in providing seizure control to the some 30-35% facing uncontrolled seizures. Many others continue to suffer unacceptable side-effects from the available medications. The amount of private support for research and new therapies is simply unacceptable measured against the devastating impact epilepsy and seizures have on the lives of so many individuals and families. We as a community need to step it up.

Led by Bill Braunlich, our outstanding Scientific and Business Advisory Boards and our epilepsy.com and project management teams, we want to take our efforts to a new level. In 2006, we plan to continue working to build epilepsy.com, providing deeper content throughout the site and offering new tools for patients and professionals to help manage epilepsy. And we hope to increase our support for promising new therapies and to invest in efforts like a clinical trials consortium that can take time and costs out of the process of doing proof-of-principle trials for new drugs and devices.

To make a difference, we need your support and contributions.

To make contributions on-line or for further information, please see: http://www.epilepsy.com/etp/donation

One easy way to provide support for research and therapies at no cost to you is to use our online shopping mall, to make all kinds of online purchases through a wide range of merchants including Amazon.com, Gap, Target and many others. Start your online shopping through our convenient mall and a percentage of every dollar you spend will support the Epilepsy Therapy Project.

Thank you. Let’s step up together to make real progress against this terrible disease!

Warren Lammert

To read more about our Co-Founder, Warren Lammert go to:
www.epilepsy.com/articles/ar_1136470134.html