A drug now on the market for $35 could help the millions of Americans who currently suffer from migraines stop the attack before it starts.
Ubrogepant, sold under the brand name Ubrelvy, helped 65 percent of participants relieve or stop the debilitating pain associated with migraines, allowing them to return to their daily activities.
Previous studies have shown that the drug can help people who are already sick from an attack, but this study is the first to conclude that the drug can work before the pain starts.
According to the American Migraine Association, approximately 39 million Americans suffer from migraines.
It is taken as a 50 or 100 mg pill and takes about an hour and a half to start working.
According to the study authors, this could be a “game changer” for the approximately 39 million Americans who suffer from migraines.
“Migraine is one of the most common diseases in the world, yet many people with this condition either do not receive treatment or report being dissatisfied with their treatment,” said Dr. Richard Lipton, an author of the study and an affiliate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
“Improving care at the first signs of migraine, even before the headache starts, may be a key to better outcomes. Our findings are encouraging and suggest that ubrogepant may help people with migraine to function normally and get through their day,” he said.
When a migraine occurs, most people are unable to move, look at lights, or hear loud noises without severe pain, nausea, or vomiting.
The new drug works by mimicking a molecule in the brain that causes migraine pain. Once in the body, these molecules sit on pain receptors and prevent them from being activated by body signals that cause migraines.
It was approved by the FDA for the treatment of migraines in December 2019. Patients are advised to take it as soon as they feel the pain of a migraine coming on.
The drug is not yet approved in the UK, but the Scottish Medicines Consortium allows it to be used in patients for whom no other treatments are available.
These initial studies showed that the drug provided relief from migraine pain within four hours in 85 percent of patients who took the drug.
New findings suggest it can be taken even earlier than previously thought and still be effective.
Without insurance, it costs about $1,000 for 10 tablets (which is a month’s supply). However, with insurance or an offer from AbbVie, the drug’s manufacturer, it can even go as low as $0.
According to the average insurance price, this is $35. drug list on amazon.
The new study, published in the journal Neurology, looked at whether the drugs still worked if patients took them before they even felt pain.
What was important was that the 518 participants had symptoms that indicated they were about to have a migraine attack. This is not the case for everyone with migraine.
They found that 65 percent of people taking the drug reported being able to lead a normal life after taking Ubrelvy, a sign that the drug had stopped their migraines. For people taking a placebo, this was 48 percent.
This means that they had less pain or at least could control the pain and could do things they normally couldn’t do when they had a migraine, such as working or walking around.
On average, people who took the drug were 73 percent more likely to say they could get through their day without pain than people who did not take the drug.
Side effects included drowsiness, nausea, and fatigue.
“Based on our findings, treatment with ubrogepant may allow people with migraine who experience early warning signs before a migraine occurs to quickly treat migraine attacks in their earliest stages and continue their daily lives with little discomfort and disruption,” Dr. Lipton said.
The doctor added: ‘This could lead to a better quality of life for people with migraine’.
The drug is a type of medicine called a calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist. CGRP is a protein that plays an important role in migraines: it activates parts of the body that cause migraine pain.
Ubrelvy and similar drugs mimic that protein, taking the place where the pain-causing molecules would normally be and stopping migraine symptoms.
Ubrelvy was approved for the treatment of migraine in 2019.
Similar drugs include Nurtec, Ajovy, Emgality, and Aimovig – all from competing pharmaceutical companies, with similar prices to Ubrelvy.
Other migraine medications may be just as effective and have been on the market for longer.
These include medications for migraines that a person must take daily to prevent the symptoms from occurring. These medications are called oral migraine preventive medications (OMPM).
However, OMPMs can sometimes have unpleasant side effects, such as dizziness, muscle cramps, vomiting and increased heart rate. This may mean that they are not suitable for everyone.
Only 14 percent of more than 8,700 migraine patients continued taking daily migraine medication after a year because it didn’t work or caused too many side effects, according to a 2017 study by discovered the Mayo Clinic.
Still, the new Ubrelvy study had some limitations. First, it needs to be repeated in a larger group to determine how widespread its benefits are.
Second, the study itself was funded by AbbVie, which owns and sells the drug. In 2023, sales of Ubrelvy and another migraine drug called Qulipta generated $1.223 billion in revenue, according to the company’s financial reports.
Finally, the study relied on participants’ own self-reported symptoms, making results sometimes inaccurate or subject to personal bias.
