Dubai infant's 110 daily seizures stopped within 30 minutes of experimental drug's first dose
After seven failed treatments, whole-genome sequencing pointed doctors to ABS-1230 — an unapproved oral drug that left baby Adnan seizure-free within a week and still counting.
From the first day of his life, an infant named Adnan had a seizure roughly every 13 minutes — about 110 a day. Seven treatment approaches failed to bring them under control. Then, on September 14, doctors at King's College Hospital London in Dubai gave him a single oral dose of an experimental drug. Within 30 minutes, the seizures stopped.
They have not returned. As of November 2, Adnan remains seizure-free, has been discharged home, and is beginning to reach early developmental milestones he had previously been unable to hit, according to the hospital.
The drug, ABS-1230, is not approved for commercial use anywhere in the world. It targets abnormal activity in an ion channel linked to the extremely rare genetic form of epilepsy Adnan was born with. According to data from the treatment's developer, he is the youngest patient in the world to receive it and only the second infant ever to be given the medication.
The path to that first dose began with whole-genome sequencing — a read of Adnan's entire genetic code — which identified the specific disease-causing variant driving his seizures. That finding gave the medical team, led by Professor Ubaid Shah, a consultant paediatric neurologist and epileptologist at the hospital, a precise biological target and pointed them toward ABS-1230.
This is an exceptional moment for us, and it highlights what precision medicine can achieve when we are able to identify the genetic cause of a disease and choose a treatment that targets the mechanism linked to it.— Professor Ubaid Shah, consultant paediatric neurologist and epileptologist, King's College Hospital London – Dubai
Because ABS-1230 has no commercial approval, obtaining it required navigating a 'compassionate use' pathway — a regulatory route that allows unapproved medicines to reach individual patients with serious conditions when no alternatives exist. The hospital applied through the Dubai Health Authority (DHA); the Emirates Drug Establishment assessed and issued regulatory approval; and the medication reached Dubai within weeks of the request, once medical, ethical and regulatory sign-offs were complete, according to the Khaleej Times.
A child born here in Dubai did not have to travel to London, Boston or Sydney to receive this advanced treatment.— Professor Ubaid Shah, consultant paediatric neurologist and epileptologist, King's College Hospital London – Dubai
Adnan received his first dose on September 14 and was discharged seven days later, on September 21, with no seizures recorded during that time. A follow-up on October 11 found no clinical seizures, and the hospital confirmed he remained seizure-free as of November 2. A multidisciplinary team is now monitoring his neurological condition, brain electrical activity, cardiac health, growth and development through regular outpatient appointments.
Despite the encouraging response, we will continue to monitor his condition closely to assess whether the results are sustained and whether the experimental treatment is safe.— Professor Ubaid Shah, consultant paediatric neurologist and epileptologist, King's College Hospital London – Dubai
Doctors and the hospital have been careful to frame Adnan's case as a single compassionate-use outcome, not generalizable evidence. ABS-1230 remains under investigation in international clinical trials and has not been approved for wider use. The response seen in this infant cannot be assumed to apply to other patients with similar or different conditions.
This collaboration demonstrates our healthcare system's ability to combine rapid response with responsible regulation, drawing on advanced medical capabilities and expertise to make a tangible difference in patients' lives, particularly in rare and complex cases.— Asma Al Sharif, CEO, DHA Health Regulation Sector
Professor Shah also used the case to urge parents to seek medical advice promptly if they notice symptoms that could indicate their child is having seizures, stressing the importance of early diagnosis and specialist care.
Why it matters — Adnan's case shows that compassionate-use regulatory pathways can deliver cutting-edge, genetically targeted treatments to critically ill children without requiring families to travel internationally — but doctors caution the result is a single case, not proof the drug works broadly.
⚠ Not yet confirmed
- The specific genetic epilepsy Adnan has is KCNT1-related epilepsy.
Reported by goodnewsnetwork.org, khaleejtimes.com, globalgenes.org
