What the trial was testing
The trial enrolled 1,978 patients with migraine. The study was sponsored by Pfizer and tracked outcomes across the full group of patients who matched the trial's eligibility profile.
It was a large trial designed to confirm whether the treatment works well enough for wider use. Trials at this stage are designed to produce evidence regulators and physicians can act on — not just observations to follow up later.
What the results showed
24% of migraine patients were pain-free two hours after using the nasal spray.
The Lancet. Neurology · 2023 · NCT04571060
These findings — that nearly 1 in 4 patients had no pain two hours after using the spray — were published in the The Lancet. Neurology and represent the headline result of the study.
Researchers tracked outcomes across 1,978 patients enrolled in the trial. The result was consistent enough across the group that the team felt confident reporting it.
What this means for patients
For patients with migraine, this result changes the calculus on what to ask their care team about. Whether it changes day-to-day care depends on factors like disease subtype, prior treatments, and where the patient is in their care journey.
What you can do now
If you get migraines and pills don't work well—or make you too nauseous to swallow them—this nasal spray might be an option. It's FDA-approved and works within two hours for some people. The most common side effect was a bad taste in the mouth. Ask your doctor if it's right for your migraine pattern.
Eligibility for the treatments mentioned above depends on specific test results and clinical history. Bring this summary, the trial name, and your most recent labs or pathology report to your next visit.
Open migraine trials
Bilateral Embolization of the Middle Meningeal Arteries for Refractory Chronic Migraine
This study is to test the safety and feasibility of a procedure called embolization of the middle meningeal arteries (MMA), using a product called Onyx. Embolization creates a plug in the arteries. MMA embolization with Onyx is not approved for use in patients with migraines, but is currently used in patients with subdural hematomas. The FDA is allowing the use of Onyx in this study. It is thought that by using Onyx to block the middle meningeal arteries, the amount of migraine-causing substances which are released into the brain's bloodstream will be reduced. The company that manufactures Onyx, Medtronic, is providing the supplies for this study. Participants will be in the study for about 8 months after enrolling, including 6 months of follow up after the procedure. The participants will be asked to complete a daily headache diary and continue the participant's regular migraine medications. Participants will also have several clinic visits and be asked to provide blood samples for research.
i-NEED: NEw migrainE Drugs Database
Approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicine Agency (EMA) starting in 2018, anti-CGRP monoclonal antibodies (anti-CGRP mAbs) represent the first true revolution in the preventive treatment of migraine due to their selectivity and specificity. To date, four anti-CGRP mAbs have been developed for the preventive treatment of migraine: eptinezumab, erenumab, fremanezumab, and galcanezumab.Anti-CGRP mAbs constitute not only the first specific and selective treatment for the prevention of migraine but also the most extensively studied pharmacological category in this field, considering the vast and complex populations examined. The clinical effects of the various mAbs are substantially comparable and are characterized by several fundamental aspects: * High efficacy in both episodic and chronic migraine, with the presence of super-responders who experience a reduction in the average monthly number of migraine days of \>75% (or even 100%) compared to before treatment. * Efficacy that is independent of the clinical form of migraine - with or without aura - and regardless of whether there is analgesic overuse. * Efficacy maintained even in the presence of depressive or anxious comorbidities. * Rapid onset of action (even more pronounced with eptinezumab), with the therapeutic effect appearing within the first week in most cases. * Excellent tolerability with an absence of class-specific adverse events. * Outstanding treatment adherence and a very low rate of treatment discontinuation in the long term. It should also be noted that the development of anti-drug antibodies or neutralizing antibodies to anti-CGRP mAbs is rare and does not significantly impact the efficacy or tolerability of treatment. Future clinical practice will need to clarify several additional aspects, such as: 1) whether treatment with anti-CGRP mAbs can modify the course of migraine; 2) the appropriate approach regarding any traditional preventive treatment (whether to continue or discontinue it); 3) the definition of the characteristics of non-responders; 4) the definition of patients with a delayed response to treatment. Gepants are oral antagonists of the CGRP receptor. Among the four gepants synthesized so far (atogepant, rimegepant, ubrogepant, zavegepant), atogepant and rimegepant are currently available in Italy. Atogepant has proven to be an effective and well-tolerated option for the prevention of episodic and chronic migraines. Rimegepant is effective for both acute treatment and prevention of migraines, with a favorable safety profile and flexible oral administration. Lasmiditan is the first ditan effective for migraine attack and it represents a new therapeutic option for patients with contraindications to triptans, due to the presence of vascular risk factors, or for patients who experience undesirable side effects with these, thus increasing the therapeutic possibilities for the symptomatic treatment of migraine. The combination of sumatriptan 85 mg and naproxen sodium 500 mg is indicated for the acute treatment of migraine attacks in adult patients for whom sumatriptan monotherapy is insufficient.