Could a monthly jab ease your migraines? Injection ‘halves’ the number of attacks by blocking chemical to blame

June 8, 2016

Migraine attacks can involve nausea, dizziness and severe headaches
Trial involved patients who suffer average 22 days headache a month
Patients given high dosage found to cut migraines by 11.4 hours in a week

Ben Spencer Medical Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Published:
15:00 EST, 8 June 2016

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Updated:
15:00 EST, 8 June 2016

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Millions of people who suffer migraines could soon be offered relief, after trials showed that a new injection could prevent attacks.

People responded to the jab within three days of the first injection, according to the trial results.

Migraine attacks cause dizziness, nausea and headaches – and three-quarters of victims are women.

Although painkillers and other drugs can ease the symptoms, they only work for some patients.

But trials of the new drug, which is delivered via a monthly injection, suggests it could halve the number of attacks for at least 53 per cent of people.

Migraine affects around eight million Britons – three quarters of them women – which can involve dizziness, nausea and headache

The results, published in the Neurology medical journal, showed that patients had an average of 36 hours of headaches per week at the start of the trial.

Of all patients who received a high dose of the drug, the average number of headache hours they experienced went down by 11.4 hours in the first week.

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Study author Dr Marcelo Bigal, of American firm Teva Pharmaceuticals which developed the TEV-48125 drug, said: ‘Most people who receive preventive medication for chronic migraine stop using them, and one reason for that is the drugs can take a long time to become effective.

‘If these results can be confirmed with larger studies, this could be exciting for people with migraine.’

The study involved 261 people who had migraine for an average of 18 years.

They had an average of 162 hours of headaches a month and an average of 22 days with headache per month.

The new injection to cure migraine would be the ‘holy grail’ of medical research with drug giants competing to get the first licence for the medication

Described as one of the few true ‘holy grails’ of medical research, an injection to truly tackle migraines is being pursued by drugs giants Amgen, Eli Lilly and Alder, who are each competing with Teva to get the first licence for the medication.

The four companies are each developing variants of a drug which tackles a protein called calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), which triggers the pain and nausea associated with a migraine.

All four companies are close to or already have completed phase two trials – and are racing to be the first to complete final phase three trials and get a licence for the drugs – with analysts predicting the market could be worth £6billion a year worldwide.

CGRP causes the swelling of blood vessels intertwined with nerve endings on both sides of the head.

Researchers have found that monoclonal blood proteins – antibodies specifically engineered to bind to CGRP – were able to ‘mop up’ the chemical, meaning it did not trigger a migraine.