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Early Almotriptan (Axert) Migraine Treatment Gets Best Pain-free Response: Presented at AHS

By Bruce Sylvester
Special to DG News

SEATTLE, WA -- June 23, 2002 -- Initiating migraine treatment with almotriptan (Axert) within the first hour of attack onset offers the best possibility of attaining a pain-free response, researchers reported here June 22 at the annual meeting of the American Headache Society.

"Our findings indicate that Axert therapy begun while the migraine pain is mild is effective in achieving pain-free responses," said investigator Andrew Dowson, MD, director of King's Headache Services, King's College Hospital in London, United Kingdom, "This is important news for migraine sufferers around the world, that we can nip this problem in the bud and avoid pain and disability associated with migraine."

Dr. Dowson and his investigative team made a post hoc analysis of data from a double-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled trial of Axert 12.5 mg and Imitrex (sumatriptan) 100 mg assessing the effects of early versus late initiation of treatment. They studied the data for indications of a sustained pain free response (pain-free at two hours with no recurrence from two to 24 hours) to treatment.

Six hundred and sixty-eight patients enrolled in the original trial; 368 started treatment in less than and hour, while 560 started in less than four hours.

The researchers randomized the subjects to receive a single oral dose of Axert 12.5 or 25 mg, Imitrex 100 mg or placebo at the onset of a severe or moderate migraine. For the post hoc analysis, they excluded data on Axert 25 mg because it is not approved for use.

In the 0-1 hour group, sustained pain-free rates were 17 percent for placebo, 34.7 percent for Axert and 29.6 percent for Imitrex. In the 0-4 hour group, sustained pain-free rates were 14.5 percent for placebo, 28.2 percent for Axert and 26.6 percent for Imitrex.

"Initiation of treatment with almotriptan 12.5 mg within the first hour after acute migraine onset resulted in a higher sustained pain-free response," the authors concluded. "These findings are consistent with previous results from an open-label trial, and suggest that early intervention with almotriptan can improve outcomes associated with acute migraine attacks."

Migraine affects about 12 percent of the U.S. population, and women have migraines at triple the rate of men. In the U.S., migraine costs $13 billion annually in lost work and productivity.

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