A drug already on the market for $35 could help the millions of Americans who currently suffer from migraines stop attacks before they start.
Ubrogepant, sold under the brand name Ubrelvy, helped 65 percent of participants ease or stop the debilitating pain associated with migraines, so they could get on with their lives as normal.
Previous studies have shown the drug can help people who have already suffered an attack, but this study was the first to conclude the drug can work before the pain begins.
Migraine affects approximately 39 million Americans, according to the American Migraine Association.
It is taken in 50 or 100 mg tablets and takes approximately an hour and a half to take effect.
The study’s authors say this could be a game-changer for the estimated 39 million Americans who suffer from migraines.
“Migraine is one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide, yet many people who suffer from it either receive no treatment or report dissatisfaction with their treatment,” said study author Dr. Richard Lipton, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
“Improving care for the early signs of migraine, even before the headache begins, may be key to better outcomes. Our findings are encouraging and suggest that ubrogepant may help people with migraine to function normally and get on with their daily lives,” she said.
When a migraine strikes, most people are unable to move, look at light, or hear loud noises without feeling severe pain, nausea, or vomiting.
The new drug works by mimicking a molecule in the brain that triggers migraine pain. When in the body, these molecules sit on pain receptors and prevent them from being activated by the bodily signals that trigger migraines.
It was approved by the FDA in December 2019 for the treatment of migraines: patients are advised to take it as soon as they feel migraine pain.
The drug has not been approved in the UK, but the Scottish Medicines Consortium allows its use in patients who have no other treatments available.
These initial studies found that it helped relieve migraine pain within four hours in 85 percent of patients taking the drug.
New findings suggest it could be taken even earlier than previously thought and still be effective.
The cost without insurance is about $1,000 for 10 tablets, which should be about a month’s supply, but can be as low as $0 through insurance or an offer from AbbVie, the drug’s manufacturer.
The average price of insurance is $35, according to the List of medicines on Amazon.
The new study, which was published in the journal Neurology MagazineThe aim was to test whether the drug continued to work if patients took it even before they felt pain.
Essentially, this meant that all 518 participants involved had symptoms that told them when a migraine was approaching, which is not the case for all migraine sufferers.
They found that 65 percent of people who took the drug reported being able to lead normal lives after taking Ubrelvy, a sign that the drug had stopped their migraine, compared with 48 percent who took the placebo.
This means they had less pain or at least could control it and do things they normally wouldn’t be able to do while having a migraine, like working or walking.
On average, those who took the drug were 73 percent more likely to report they could go about their day without pain than those who did not take it.
Side effects included drowsiness, nausea and fatigue.
“Based on our findings, treatment with ubrogepant may enable people with migraine who experience early warning signs before a migraine occurs to quickly treat migraine attacks in their early stages and continue with their daily lives with little discomfort and disruption,” said Dr. Lipton.
The doctor added: “This could lead to a better quality of life for those living with migraine.”
The drug is a type of medicine called a calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist. CGRP is a protein that plays a key role in migraines by activating parts of the body that trigger migraine pain.
Ubrelvy and similar drugs mimic that protein, taking the place of pain-inducing molecules 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 and priced similarly to Ubrelvy.
However, other migraine medications may be just as effective and have been on the market for longer.
This includes anti-migraine medications that a person takes every day to prevent migraines from occurring, called oral migraine preventative medications (OMPM).
However, OMPMs sometimes have unpleasant side effects such as dizziness, muscle cramps, vomiting and increased heart rate, which could mean they are not suitable for everyone.
Only 14 percent of more than 8,700 migraine sufferers were still taking daily migraine medications after a year of taking them, either because they didn’t work or caused too many side effects, according to a 2017 study by The Mayo Clinic discovered that…
Still, Ubrelvy’s new study has some limitations. First, it will need to be replicated 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 to report their own symptoms, which sometimes makes the results inaccurate or subject to personal bias.
