New Migraine Drug May Start Working Right Away: Researchers - Video

A drug recently approved to prevent migraine may start working right away, according to a study published online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study looked at the drug atogepant, which is a calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist taken by mouth.

In the study, people taking the drug atogepant were less likely to have a migraine on the first day of taking the drug compared to those taking a placebo. 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.

For this study, researchers looked at the data from three trials on the safety and effectiveness of atogepant over 12 weeks to focus on how rapidly improvements appeared. There were 3 trials - ADVANCE trial, ELEVATE trial and PROGRESS trial, which enrolled people with episodic migraine.

People with episodic migraine experience up to 14 migraine days per month. People with chronic migraine experience at least 15 days with headache per month, with at least eight days being characteristic of migraine. On the first day of the study, 12% of those taking the drug in the first trial, the ADVANCE trial had a migraine, compared to 25% of those taking placebo. In the second trial, the ELEVATE trial, the numbers were 15% and 26%. For the third trial, the PROGRESS trial, the numbers were 51% and 61%. When researchers adjusted for other factors that could affect the rate of migraine, they found that people taking the drug were 61% less likely to have a migraine in the first trial, 47% less likely in the second trial, and 37% less likely in the third trial.

Reference: Lipton, R. B., Gandhi, P., Tassorelli, C., Reuter, U., Harriott, A. M., Holle-Lee, D., Gottschalk, C. H., Neel, B., Liu, Y., Guo, H., Stokes, J., Nagy, K., Dabruzzo, B., & Smith, J. H. (2025, January 28). Early improvements with atogepant for the preventive treatment of migraine: Results from 3 randomized phase 3 trials. Neurology, 104(2), Article 0000000000210212. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000210212