Erenumab helps prevent migraine in adults who haven’t responded to other preventive treatments, according to an industry-funded study in The Lancet. The monoclonal antibody targets calcitonin gene-related peptide; it was approved in May for migraine prevention.
Roughly 250 adults with episodic migraine who’d been treated unsuccessfully with two to four preventives were randomized to receive two erenumab or placebo injections every 4 weeks for 12 weeks. At baseline, patients averaged 9 migraine days monthly.
The primary outcome — the proportion of patients who achieved at least a 50% reduction in monthly migraine days in the third month of treatment — favored erenumab (30% vs. 14% with placebo). Findings during the first and second months also favored erenumab. Adverse events did not differ between the groups.
A commentator says it’s unclear whether erenumab “will be included in any consensus algorithms” for migraine prevention, but the study “provides good evidence” that it might be an effective option.
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