When other medications have failed, new injection treatment may help some patients with disabling headaches.
Erenumab is part of new class of drugs —fully human monoclonal antibodies — that block calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a molecule that transmits migraine pain signals during an attack. The medication is a long-lasting injection that is meant to stop a migraine before it even starts.
“If we can block CGRP, then we can abort a migraine attack,” said Dr. David Kudrow, director of the California medical clinic for headache, who was not involved in the study.
More than 37 million Americans suffer from migraine attacks, according to the American Headache Society. Of these, about 4 million have chronic migraine and suffer headaches for 10 to 14 days a month.
While some people are helped by low cost, over-the-counter drugs such as ibuprofen, others need stronger prescription medications, such as sumatriptan and ergotamine, which constrict the blood vessels in the brain and can cause dizziness or nausea. Botox injections are also used to help ease migraines in some people.
But a large percentage of sufferers are not helped by anything.
“"This is the first-ever mechanism specific migraine drug designed for prevention," said lead study author Dr. Peter Goadsby, professor of neurology at Kings College London, UK and University of California, San Francisco. "This will change migraine treatment for those who don’t respond to conventional treatments.”
To participate in the study — the results were released ahead of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology — adults ages 18 or over, had to report between four and 14 disabling episodic migraines, or 15 or more chronic migraines per month, and to have failed two or more preventative treatments, such as topiramate, propranolol, or amitriptyline.
Researchers found that the drug reduced the average number of monthly migraine headaches by more than 50 percent for nearly a third of study participants. After three months, patients treated with the human antibody were nearly three times more likely to have reduced their migraine days by 50 percent or more, than those treated with placebo.
They also had a greater average reduction in the number of days with headaches and the number of days they needed to take drugs to stop the migraines.
No patients taking erenumab stopped treatment due to adverse side effects, but the scientists noted that more research will needed to investigate if the benefits continue.
