Research presented at the AHS 2019 Annual Meeting found that fremanezumab reduced headache days in patients with chronic or episodic migraine who failed at least one prior preventive migraine therapy.
“Migraine is the second-leading cause of years lived with disability worldwide,” Paul K Winner, DO, director of the Premiere Research Institute and the Palm Beach Headache Center, and colleagues wrote. “Fremanezumab, a fully humanized monoclonal antibody that selectively targets calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), is approved in the US for the preventive treatment of migraine in adults.”
.jpg)
Woman with headache. Source: Getty
The researchers studied the long-term efficacy of fremanezumab by conducting a 12-month, multicenter, randomized, double-blind study. The study included 490 patients with chronic migraine and 206 patients with episodic migraine. All patients had failed at least one prior line of preventative migraine therapy.
In the chronic migraine group, 247 patients received treatment quarterly and 243 received treatment monthly. In the episodic group 105 patients received fremanezumab injections quarterly and 101 received treatment monthly.
In the chronic migraine group, the mean reduction in migraine days was -5.2 in quarterly patients and -7 days in the monthly group. Further, this reduction in headache days was maintained throughout the 12 month study period.
In the episodic migraine group reductions in migraine days were also reported. Patients on quarterly treatment reported a mean change from baseline of -4.9 days, while monthly patients reported -4.6 days at 6 months.
“Patients who have failed at least one prior migraine preventive medication may be challenging to treat,” Winner and colleagues concluded. “These data suggest that fremanezumab demonstrates long-term efficacy for the reduction of migraine days and headache days of at least moderate severity in this potentially difficult-to- treat population.”
Disclosures: Winner has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities from the fremanezumab’s manufacturer.
