Oxcarbazepine is an anticonvulsant and mood-stabilizing drug, used primarily in the treatment of epilepsy. It is also used to treat anxiety and mood disorders, and benign motor tics. Oxcarbazepine is a structural derivative of carbamazepine, with a ketone in place of the carbon–carbon double bond on the dibenzazepine ring at the 10 position (10-keto). This difference helps reduce the impact on the liver of metabolizing the drug, and also prevents the serious forms of anemia or agranulocytosis occasionally associated with carbamazepine. Aside from this reduction in side effects, it is thought to have the same mechanism as carbamazepine – sodium channel inhibition (presumed to be the main mechanism of action) – and is generally used to treat the same conditions. Oxcarbazepine is a prodrug which is activated to eslicarbazepine in the liver.
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