A monoclonal antibody offers a promising treatment for migraine, German researchers are to tell a major conference.
The researchers investigated a new drug called erenumab, which blocks pain by targeting a receptor for a compound that transmits pain signals.
The study involved 246 people who had episodic migraine and had not responded well to other medications. They were given injections of either 140 milligrams of erenumab or a placebo, monthly for three months.
At the end of the study period, those taking erenumab were nearly three times more likely to have reduced their migraine days by at least 50% than those on placebo. In the drug group, 30% reached this target, compared to 14% on placebo.
Those on the drug had an average 1.6 times greater reduction in migraine days and a 1.7 times greater reduction in acute medication days than those on placebo. The drug was deemed safe and tolerable.
Dr Uwe Reuter, of Charité – University Medicine Berlin, will present the findings at the upcoming American Academy of Neurology’s 70th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, USA.
He says: "The people we included in our study were considered more difficult to treat, meaning that up to four other preventative treatments hadn’t worked for them.
"Our study found that erenumab reduced the average number of monthly migraine headaches by more than 50% for nearly a third of study participants. That reduction in migraine headache frequency can greatly improve a person’s quality of life."
Results presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 70th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, April 21 to 27, 2018.
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