A new treatment for migraine has been found to be both more effective and better tolerated than a commonly used conventional medicine., concluded an International Temple study, which was published in the scientific journal The Lancet Neurology concludes.
A professor from UZ Brussels helped to conduct the study.
The study compared atogepant – a daily tablet specifically developed to prevent migraines – with topiramate. The latter drug was originally developed to treat epilepsy but has also been prescribed for many years as a preventive treatment for migraines.
The study involved 545 adults who, on average, experienced at least four migraine days per month. They were given one of the two treatments for 24 weeks.
The study shows that patients taking atogepant suffered less from migraines. During the final three months of the study, over 64% had half as many migraine days. Among patients given topiramate, this figure was only 39%.
On average, the number of migraine days fell by 6.3 days per month with atogepant and by 4.5 days with topiramate. This amounts to a difference of 1.8 migraine days per month in favour of the new treatment.
“The results show that more patients on atogepant achieve a clear reduction in the number of migraine days than those on topiramate,” said Professor Dr Jan Versijpt from UZ Brussels.
“At the same time, we see that patients tolerate the treatment better and are less likely to discontinue it due to side effects,” he added. Of the patients who received atogepant, 12% discontinued treatment due to side effects, compared with 30% for topiramate.
