What is "primidone"

n. An anticonvulsant of the pyrimidinedione class whose active metabolites, phenobarbital and phenylethylmalonamide, are also anticonvulsants.

n. an anticonvulsant (trade name Mysoline) used to treat grand mal seizures and essential tremor [syn: Mysoline]

Primidone ( INN, BAN, USP) is an anticonvulsant of the barbiturate class. It is a structural analog of phenobarbital and related to barbiturate-derivative anticonvulsants. The active metabolites, phenobarbital, p-hydroxyphenobarbital, and phenylethylmalonamide, are also anticonvulsants. Primidone was once a mainstay anticonvulsant in the treatment of partial and generalized seizures and was the treatment of choice for secondarily generalized seizures originating in the temporal lobes, especially when combined with phenytoin, but by the early 1980s, carbamazepine had surpassed it in popularity due to the latter's lower incidence of sedation. As time passed and more and more anticonvulsants came on the market, primidone was pushed further and further away from its former place of prominence, and major Western pharmaceutical corporations became less and less interested in manufacturing and selling it. It has largely fallen into disuse in the developed world as more and more anticonvulsants entered the market, and it has been withdrawn from various markets around the world.