It is brain awareness week and University of Auckland researchers say they have developed a promising treatment for the 30 percent of epileptics who do not respond to drugs.

Researchers say it cuts the length of seizures in half and they hope to soon be able to tell whether it reduces the frequency of them too.

Epileptic Bevan McClay has been prescribed a cocktail of pills to help him manage, but the camera shop sales consultant just can't find the right combination to keep his epileptic seizures at bay.

"It gets a little bit frustrating sometimes," says Mr McClay.

Seizures affect one in every 100 people in New Zealand. That's 40,000 people. One-third of sufferers do not respond to conventional treatment.

But University of Auckland researches say they have discovered how to turn the gene off in the brain that is responsible for causing seizures.

"It could have a significant effect on any potential future treatment for epilepsy," says researcher Debbie Young.

How they do it is quite ingenious. They place a piece of synthetic DNA called a gene silencer inside a tiny capsule. That is injected and attaches to the cell containing the overactive gene. As the capsule breaks down, it releases the silencer, which switches off the overactive gene. That in turn releases increased levels of a chemical involved in stopping the seizures.

Researchers say the treatment can halve the length of seizures, and they are now looking at whether it can reduce the frequency of them too. That is giving hope to sufferers and those treating the disease.

"My clinics are full of people whom I feel I can help very little," says Dr Peter Bergin, a neurologist at Auckland Hospital and medical director for the Epilepsy Research programme. "It's enormously frustrating for me and I feel greatly for the patients."

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Gene therapy to help with epileptic seizures