Existing migraine drugs (e.g., Imitrex, Sumatriptan) help stop migraines in progress, but until now, scientists have not been able to come up with a medication to prevent onset of migraines. This is about to change. Four competing pharmaceutical companies: Alder, Amgen, Eli Lilly, and Teva – are testing a new class of medications, called monoclonal antibodies, which are specifically designed to prevent chronic migraines by targeting a critical neurochemical involved in transmission of migraine pain.

The results of the clinical trials, which were recently presented at the American Headache Society meeting, are very promising. About half of the patients achieved at least a 50% reduction in the number of migraine headaches, and some patients reported a 100% reduction. What’s more, investigational medications so far have shown limited side effects.

“This is a potential breakthrough in treating migraines”, says Dr. Stolyar, Principal Investigator at Boston Clinical Trials. “If the drugs prove successful, migraine patients could get a monthly injection to prevent some or all of their headaches”.

The new medications are now undergoing additional testing before being submitted to FDA for approval. To learn more about migraine studies at Boston Clinical Trials, please call us at 617.477.4868 or click here to visit our migraine studies page.

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