Migraine sufferers in England may soon be able to access preventative drug – here’s how atogepant works

• Atogepant (brand name: Aquipta) was recently recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) to prevent episodic and chronic migraine attacks.
• The drug would be recommended to people who have at least four migraine days a month or where at least three previous preventative treatments have failed.
• Migraine is a complex neurological condition that affects about 10 million people in the UK.
• It’s characterised by recurrent, severe headaches that can be made worse by physical activity and are often debilitating.
• However, it’s only suited to patients who suffer from episodic migraines – whereas atogepant can be used by people who have both chronic and episodic migraines.

Consistently effective

Three clinical trials have shown atogepant to be safe and effective for people with episodic or chronic migraines.

• The Advance trial evaluated how safe and effective different doses of atogepant were compared with a placebo in preventing episodic migraine.
• The 60mg once-daily tablet was found to be well tolerated and effective, leading to nearly seven fewer migraine days per month.
• A third trial, the 302-LTS trial, followed participants who suffered from episodic migraine for over a year, finding that atogepant was consistently effective for reducing migraine attacks.
• Atogenpant was consistently shown to be safe across all studies, including the one that lasted for a year.

Anna Andreou receives funding from the Medical Research Foundation and Brain Research UK. She also received research funding from eNeura, AbbVie and Pfizer. She is affiliated with the International Headache Society, being elected as a Trustee of the Board. She is Chair of the Headache special interest group of the British Pain Society.