The European Commission (EC) has authorized the marketing of the drug Vydura (rimegepant), developed by Pfizer and Biohaven, for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura in adults and for the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in people (also adults) who experience a minimum of four migraine attacks per month. The drug has thus become, as announced by these pharmaceutical companies, the first drug approved for the acute and preventive treatment of migraine in the European Union.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified migraine as one of the 10 most disabling diseases because 90% of people with this health problem cannot work or perform other types of daily activities when they are experiencing the symptoms. symptoms of a migraine attack.
In Europe, and according to WHO data, it is estimated that around one in 10 people suffer from this pathology, which has a higher incidence among women, because they suffer from migraines between three and four times more than men. Juan Álvarez, medical director of Pfizer Spain, has stated that “there is a significant unmet need for Europeans living with pain and disability caused by migraine”.
Vydura reduces migraine symptoms and the number of attacks
Vydura is a calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist, which is available as an oral lyophilisate. And Álvarez points out that “research on acute migraine has shown rapid and long-lasting relief of migraine headache and other symptoms with a single dose. While the migraine prevention study showed a significant reduction in migraine attacks with alternate-day dosing.”
Vydura demonstrated “rapid and long-lasting relief of migraine headache and other symptoms with a single dose” and “significant reduction in migraine attacks with alternate-day dosing”
The results of the phase III clinical trial, published in the scientific journal The Lancet, showed that a single dose of Vydura achieved a greater reduction in pain and migraine-related symptoms after two hours compared to placebo. As for the study on the prevention of migraine, also published in The Lancet, it showed that patients who took this drug every other day suffered migraines on fewer days per month compared to those who received the placebo.
Peter Goadsby, Director of the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Research and Professor of Neurology at King’s College London, has pointed out that “migraine is often overlooked and undertreated, leading to to significant disability with poor patient care.”
“The efficacy of this drug and its favorable benefit-risk profile give hope to people who need new therapeutic options for the treatment of their migraine. I am hopeful that it will improve the quality of life for all those people who live with the burden of this disease, “says Goadsby.
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