Pain-Free Living

Recent Migraine News: Promising Drug, Online Summit, and Warnings for Pregnant Women

By Matt Mendenhall

Treatments for migraine headaches have made headlines recently. Here’s a summary:

New drug holds promise

Drug maker Alder BioPharmaceuticals says tests of a new drug to prevent migraines have been promising. Multiple doses of the injectable drug, ALD403, were tested against a placebo in patients suffering from chronic migraines — those who experienced 15 or more headache days per month, of which at least eight were assessed as migraine days.

The two highest doses of the drug, 300 mg and 100 mg, brought about a 75 percent reduction in migraine days in 33 percent and 31 percent of patients respectively. The drug is currently in a late-stage trial for use in frequent episodic migraine. A late-stage study for chronic migraine sufferers is slated to begin later this year. Alder BioPharmaceuticals is recommending that, if approved, the drug would be administered four times per year. Approval by the Food and Drug Administration could occur by 2019.

Migraine World Summit planned

Carl Cincinnato, founder of the website MigrainePal, is organizing the Migraine World Summit, an online gathering that Cincinnato says “provides unprecedented access to dozens of experts” for migraine sufferers. The free event, which will run April 15-20, will feature doctors, professors, and specialists from the Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical School, and other institutions to help answer patients’ questions.

New concerns over migraine treatments during pregnancy

Doctors at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have reported that medications and treatments long considered safe to treat pregnant women with migraines may not be. In a review published in Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, Rebecca Erwin Wells, M.D., raised questions about using magnesium, ondansetron, acetaminophen, and butalbital for treating pregnant women with migraines.

She encourages women to consult their doctors and adds, “There are many available treatment options for migraine during pregnancy and lactation, so patients can be assured that they will not suffer during this important time in their lives.”

 

Read our new series of articles about migraines:

Migraine: Overview and Facts

Migraine: Symptoms and Types

Migraine: Diagnosis and Tests

Migraine: Treatment and Management

Last Reviewed 03/31/2016

Matt Mendenhall is the editor of Pain-Free Living.

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