Migraine sufferers have a very hard time finding effective treatment options for their condition. With our still incomplete understanding of migraines, many migraine sufferers try many different treatments while hoping to find one that really works. Doctors, equally frustrated, sometimes offer inappropriate treatments, such as opioids to help their desperate patients.
So it’s not a surprise that migraine sufferers have been very excited about the potential of new migraine drugs called calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) inhibitors. They seemed promising at first, but recent trial results aren’t as promising as we might have hoped. They show that some people will likely get benefits, but they’re not a universal solution for migraine sufferers. The truth is that people with migraines will still have to work hard to find the right migraine treatment for their headaches.
Drug Trial Results Cause Stocks to Tumble
People had been hopeful that CGRP inhibitors would prove to be very effective at treating migraines. Researchers were more modest in their goals: they wanted to be better than the placebo. A placebo is a fake pill that makes people feel better because they think they’re getting medicine, and, really, placebos are surprisingly effective. Researchers achieved their goals, but investors were not impressed, and shares in the company looking to bring the drug to market fell.
The most recent trials were focused on the drug rimegepant. Developer Biohaven hopes this will be the first CGRP inhibitor you can take orally. (CGRP inhibitors likely to be approved this year are injectable.) The primary measures were how many patients experienced pain relief two hours after taking the drug, and how many saw their most bothersome symptom (MBS) of migraine dissipate at two hours after dosing. In the trial, 19% of people taking rimegepant saw their pain go away after two hours, compared to 12-14% of people taking placebo. That 5-7% difference was statistically significant (and it seems that it might increase with time), but it seems like a pretty small difference overall. If a drug can only help 5% of migraine sufferers get relief, it sure doesn’t seem like it could be the groundbreaking new treatment that migraineurs (and investors) had hoped.
Similarly, about 37% of people taking the drug saw resolution of their MBS, compared to 25-28% of those taking placebo. The difference here is a little larger, but still not especially impressive.
So it’s no wonder that shares in Biohaven fell by a third when the results were announced.
Try Many Options
Part of the reason why no single migraine treatment works for everyone is that there are many different forms of migraines. In fact, we’re not entirely sure how many different kinds they are or how they work. But we are sure that different treatments work better for different people. It’s important for people with migraines to keep looking until they find the right migraine treatment for them.
If your current migraine treatment isn’t helping you, we may be able to help. We have helped many people overcome their migraines with drug-free TMJ treatment. To learn whether TMJ treatment can help with your migraines in the Hilton Head area, please call (843) 706-2999 today for an appointment with a TMJ dentist at Beyond Exceptional Dentistry.
