Vigabatrin 500mg/5ml oral solution
Requires a prescription from a doctor or prescriber
An antiepileptic drug
Official documents, adverse reaction reporting, and safety monitoring
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Official medicine documents
Safety monitoring data
Yellow Card reports
The MHRA Yellow Card scheme collects reports of suspected side effects from healthcare professionals and patients. View the Drug Analysis Profile (iDAP) for real-world adverse reaction data.
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Suspected adverse reactions reported for Vigabatrin
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Interactive Drug Analysis Profiles for all medicines
Report a side effect
Submit a Yellow Card report to the MHRA
Data from the MHRA Yellow Card scheme. A reported reaction does not necessarily mean the medicine caused it. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
EudraVigilance
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) collects suspected adverse reaction reports from across the EU/EEA through the EudraVigilance system. Search for safety data on this medicine.
View EudraVigilance report
Suspected adverse reactions reported for Vigabatrin
About EudraVigilance
Learn about EU pharmacovigilance and safety monitoring
EudraVigilance data is published by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A suspected adverse reaction is not necessarily caused by the medicine.
1 branded products available
WHO defined daily dose (DDD)
2 gram
Not a recommended dose. The DDD is the assumed average maintenance dose per day for a drug used for its main indication in adults. It is a statistical measure used for research and comparison purposes only.
Source: WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology, distributed via the NHS dm+d supplementary BNF/ATC mapping files (NHSBSA). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Therapeutically similar medicines
Similarity is based on WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification and on a factual NHS dm+d therapeutic-grouping code prefix. Source data: NHS dm+d via TRUD (OGL v3.0), WHO ATC/DDD Index.
NHS prescribing volume and spending trends
Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
NICE clinical guidance(4)
Epilepsies in children, young people and adults (NG217)
Cenobamate for treating focal onset seizures in epilepsy (TA753)
Cannabidiol for treating seizures caused by tuberous sclerosis complex (TA873)
Ganaxolone for treating seizures caused by CDKL5 deficiency disorder in people 2 years and over (TA1033)
Source: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Check stock at pharmacies and supply information
Pharmacy stock checkers
Search for this medicine at major UK pharmacy chains. These links open the retailer's own website — results depend on their current online catalogue.
Supply & safety information
Official UK regulator monitoring and safety alerts
Pharmacy links redirect to the retailer's own search and do not represent real-time stock levels. Shortage and safety information sourced from MHRA drug safety updates (gov.uk, Crown Copyright under OGL v3.0).
Codes for healthcare professionals and prescribing systems
These codes are used by healthcare IT systems and prescribers to identify this medicine.
NHS UK identifiers
Browse tools
SNOMED CT and dm+d codes from NHS TRUD (Technology Reference data Update Distribution), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. BNF code shown is the factual mapping value distributed by NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) in the dm+d supplementary file under OGL v3.0; it is not affiliated with, nor licensed from, the publishers of the British National Formulary. ATC codes from the WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology (whocc.no).
Active and completed clinical studies from ClinicalTrials.gov
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Data accessed via ClinicalTrials.gov API v2. Trial information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Academic studies and reviews for this medicine's active substance
Showing the 50 most relevant studies.
Reviews & meta-analyses: 9 · Randomised trials: 13 · 1986–2026
Showing the 50 most relevant studies, sorted by most relevant.
Finbar O’Callaghan, Stuart W. Edwards, Fabienne Dietrich Alber, et al.
The Lancet Neurology, 2016
- Anticonvulsants
- Cosyntropin
- Electroencephalography
Melissa Maguire, Karla Hemming, John M. Wild, et al.
Epilepsia, 2010
- Anticonvulsants
- Drug Resistance
- Epilepsies, Partial
Finbar O’Callaghan, Stuart W. Edwards, Fabienne Dietrich Alber, et al.
The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 2018
Andrew Lux, Stuart W. Edwards, Eleanor Hancock, et al.
The Lancet Neurology, 2005
- Adaptation, Psychological
- Anti-Inflammatory Agents
- Anticonvulsants
Andrew Lux, Stuart W. Edwards, Eleanor Hancock, et al.
The Lancet, 2004
- Anticonvulsants
- Cosyntropin
- Electroencephalography
Catherine Chiron, Caroline Dumas, Isabelle Jambaqué, et al.
Epilepsy Research, 1997
- Anticonvulsants
- gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
- Hydrocortisone
Roy D. Elterman, W. Donald Shields, K. A. Mansfield, et al.
Neurology, 2001
- Anticonvulsants
- Spasms, Infantile
- Single-Blind Method
Katrina Darke, Stuart W. Edwards, Eleanor Hancock, et al.
Archives of Disease in Childhood, 2010
- Anticonvulsants
- Child Development
- Cosyntropin
Devi N, Soni P, Madaan P, et al.
2025
- Tuberous Sclerosis
- Vigabatrin
- Anticonvulsants
L. James Willmore, Mark B. Abelson, Elinor Ben‐Menachem, et al.
Epilepsia, 2009
- Anticonvulsants
- Cognition
- Spasms, Infantile
Sources: aggregated from Europe PMC (EMBL-EBI), OpenAlex, Crossref, PubMed and other open scholarly databases. Retracted articles are excluded. Study information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Pharmacology and chemical data from DrugBank
Key facts
Drug status
Approved
Major interactions
1 found
Half-life
5.7 hours
Mechanism
Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the major inhibitory transmitter throughout th…
Food interactions
2 warnings
Human targets
1 target
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Absorption
2.5 hours
[L13616]…
Half-life
5.7 hours
Protein binding
[L13616]
Volume of distribution
1.1 L/kg
[L13616]
Metabolism
[L13616]
Elimination
95%
[L13616]
Clearance
2.4 L/h
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
It was first introduced as an antiepileptic agent in the United Kingdom in 1989 and was used extensively until 1997, when an association with vision loss became apparent.[A202124] Its use is now generally reserved for patients who have failed alternative therapies, and its US approval by the FDA in 2009 mandated the creation of a drug registry to monitor patients for visual deficits.[L13661][A202124]
[L13616]
It is also indicated as monotherapy in the treatment of infantile spasms in patients between 1 month and 2 years of age for whom the potential benefits outweigh the risk of vision loss.
[L13616]
Known interactions with other medications. Always consult a healthcare professional.
Showing 50 of 809 interactions
[L13652]
Symptoms of overdose tend to involve significant CNS depression - e.g. coma, unconsciousness, and/or drowsiness - with less common symptoms including neurologic disorders (e.g. seizure activity, speech disorder, headache) and psychiatric sequelae (e.g. psychosis, agitation, abnormal behaviour, confusion).
[L13616]
In cases of overdose, symptoms generally resolve with symptomatic and supportive care. Standard measures to remove unabsorbed drug may be employed (e.g. gastric lavage), although an in vitro study found that activated charcoal did not significantly absorb vigabatrin.
[L13616]
Although vigabatrin is not protein-bound, the effectiveness of hemodialysis in drug removal during overdose is unknown - isolated reports of patients in renal failure undergoing hemodialysis who were receiving therapeutic doses of vigabatrin note a reduction in vigabatrin plasma concentrations of 40-60% following dialysis.
[L13616]
How the body processes this drug — absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination
[L13616]
The Tmax is approximately 2.5 hours in infants (5m - 2y) and 1 hour in all other age groups.
[L13616]
[L13616]
[L13616]
[L13616]
[L13616]
[L13616]
Proteins and enzymes this drug interacts with in the body
PMID:10407778 PMID:15528998
Can also convert delta-aminovalerate and beta-alanine (By similarity)
Enzymes involved in drug metabolism — important for understanding drug interactions
Proteins that transport this drug across cell membranes
PMID:12527723 PMID:12809675 PMID:19549785
May be involved in the efflux from the lysosomal compartment of neutral amino acids resulting from proteolysis (By similarity). May play a role in specifying sites for exocytosis in neurons (By similarity)
ATC N03AG04
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Show
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Linked compound data from DrugBank Open Data (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Vigabatrin
Additional database identifiers
Drugs Product Database (DPD)
570
ChemSpider
5463
BindingDB
50118886
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:23
GenAtlas
ABAT
GeneCards
ABAT
GenBank Gene Database
L32961
GenBank Protein Database
602705
Guide to Pharmacology
2464
UniProt Accession
GABT_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:2623
GenAtlas
CYP2C9
GeneCards
CYP2C9
GenBank Gene Database
AY341248
Guide to Pharmacology
1326
UniProt Accession
CP2C9_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:18761
GenAtlas
SLC36A1
GeneCards
SLC36A1
GenBank Gene Database
AF516142
GenBank Protein Database
31324239
Guide to Pharmacology
1161
UniProt Accession
S36A1_HUMAN
DrugBank citations
If you use DrugBank data in your research, please cite the following publications:
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Structured knowledge from the free knowledge base
ATC classifications (Wikidata)
Linked open data from Wikidata (Q421663), a free and open knowledge base operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Data is available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication. WHO INN from the World Health Organization.