New drug designed to stop migraines before a headache starts

Woman experiencing a headache. Image by Sasha Wolff CC BY 2.0.

When taken at the first signs of a migraine, before headache pain begins, a newly developed drug called ubrogepant appears to be effective in helping people with migraine go about their daily lives with little or no symptoms.

The study focused on people with migraine who could tell when an attack was about to happen, due to early symptoms such as sensitivity to light and sound, fatigue, neck pain or stiffness, or dizziness.

Ubrogepant is a calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonist, or CGRP inhibitor. CGRP is a protein that plays a key role in the migraine process.

The basis of the medical research rests on the notion of improving care at the first signs of migraine, even before headache pain begins. This can be a key to improved outcomes.

The study involved 518 participants who had migraine for at least one year and two to eight migraine attacks per month in the three months before the study.

All of the participants regularly experienced signs that a migraine would be starting within the next few hours. Participants were asked to treat two attacks during a two-month period.

Researchers divided participants into two groups. The first group received a placebo for their first set of pre-headache symptoms of migraine, followed by taking 100 milligrams (mg) of ubrogepant for their second instance of symptoms. The second group took ubrogepant for the first instance and placebo for the second instance.

Twenty-four hours after taking the drug or a placebo, 65 percent of people who took ubrogepant reported themselves as “not at all limited — I could do everything,” or “a little limited,” compared to 48% of those who took the placebo.

Researchers found that as early as two hours post-medication, people who took the drug were 73 percent more likely to report that they had “no disability, able to function

The participants showed that based on their headache warning symptoms, they could reliably predict impending migraine headaches. These findings apply only to those with reliable warning symptoms.

A limitation of the study was that participants recorded their symptoms and medication use in electronic diaries, so it is possible some people may not have recorded all information accurately.

The study has been presented to the journal Neurology, with the title “Effect of Ubrogepant on Patient-Reported Outcomes When Administered During the Migraine Prodrome.”