Migraine Community Sees Promise in New Class of Drugs

Findings presented at the American Headache Society’s (AHS) annual scientific meeting have the migraine community hopeful about a new class of drugs called Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP) monoclonal antibodies, which are showing promise in treating high-frequency episodic migraine and chronic migraine. “This development is a transformative moment in migraine treatment,” said the chair of the organization’s scientific program. “There’s no question that we need something better … In fact, for prevention we really need something designed specifically for migraine.” A new class of anti-migraine drugs have not been available since the development of triptans in 1991, which are not preventives and are only designed to treat migraine attacks. The new class of therapeutic agents appears to reduce elevated levels of the peptide known as calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a key driver of migraine pain. Data presented at the AHS annual scientific meeting reported that the drug, as a preventive treatment of high-frequency episodic migraines, achieved a significant reduction in the number of headache hours after one week (in human trials), with more than half of patients who experienced a 50 percent or greater reduction in headache frequency. To read more about this study, click here.