Migraine drug offers pain relief from first day

Most treatments can take weeks or months for best dosage to be calculated

Researchers looked at data from three studies on the safety and effectiveness of atogepant over the first 12 weeks. PA/file

A drug to treat debilitating migraines may start working immediately, unlike most treatments, a study published on Monday shows.

The medical research found people taking atogepant were less likely to have a migraine on the first day of treatment. They also had fewer migraines per week during each of the first four weeks of the study and fewer migraines during the study overall than those taking a placebo, the study published in Neurology found.

“With many current drugs to prevent migraine, it takes time to find the right dosage for the individual and it can take weeks or even months for it to be most effective,” said study author Dr Richard Lipton, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

“Some people give up and stop taking the drugs before they reach this point. Plus, many people experience side effects with current treatments. Developing a drug that works both effectively and quickly is critical.”

Researchers looked at data from three studies – called the Advance, Elevate and Progress trials – on the safety and effectiveness of atogepant over the first 12 weeks. Advance and Elevate involved patients with episodic migraine, meaning up to 14 migraine days a month, while Progress studied people with chronic migraine, or at least 15 days with headache per month.

“Migraine is the second-leading cause of disability in the overall population and the leading cause of disability in young women, with people reporting negative effects on their relationships, parenting, career and finances. Having a treatment that can act quickly and effectively addresses a key need,” Dr Lipton said.

On the first day of the Advance study, 12 per cent of those taking the drug had a migraine, compared to 25 per cent of those taking placebo. In the Elevate trial, it was 15 per cent and 26 per cent. For the third group, the numbers were 51 per cent and 61 per cent.

When researchers adjusted for other factors that could affect the rate of migraine, they found that people taking the drug were 61 per cent less likely to have a migraine in Advance, 47 per cent less likely in Elevate, and 37 per cent less likely in Progress. For the first two trials, the people taking atogepant had an average of one fewer day with migraine per week, compared to an average of less than half a day fewer per week for those taking the placebo.

For the third trial, average migraine days per week declined by about 1.5 days for those taking the drug compared to about one day for those taking the placebo. The people taking atogepant also showed improvement on assessments of how much migraine impaired their activities and their overall quality of life compared to people taking the placebo.

One limit of the study is that it involved mostly female and white participants, so the results may not apply to the overall population. The study was supported by AbbVie, the maker of atogepant.