Therapeutic use of compounds

A method of treatment or prevention of a disease or biomedical condition selected from the group consisting of seizure-related disorders, bipolar disorders, mania, depression, migraine, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, latent HIV infection, Alzheimer's disease, chorea, schizophrenia, ischemia, cancer, fatal blood loss, and combinations thereof in a subject in need thereof, the method comprising administering to the subject a compound having the formula

• R1-COOH (I),
• wherein R1 is an alkyl or alkenyl group having a C7-11 backbone, optionally branched with a C1-6 alkyl group at any C position in the backbone, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, amide or ester thereof, wherein the backbone of the alkyl or alkenyl group, and/or the branched alkyl groups, are optionally interrupted by one or more heteroatoms,
• when R1 is an alkyl group having a C7 backbone, the branching does not consist only of a hexyl group at the α carbon of R1, or only of a methyl group at the γ carbon of R1, or of only single methyl groups at both the β and ω-1 carbons of R1, and
• when R1 is an alkyl group having a C8 or C11 backbone, the branching does not consist only of a propyl group at the α carbon of R1.