Not many migraine patients know about the new CGRP drugs that prevent it, says study

Although we do have a medication to prevent migraine, there are very few patients with migraine who are aware of these CGRP drugs, shows study. Not just that, even physicians provide less information about these drugs, the patients claim.

By: Sreemoyee Chatterjee | | Updated: August 10, 2018 4:41 pm

It is important for patients to seek help from a headache specialist or neurologist and complete their migraine treatment as prescribed by the consulting doctor © Shutterstock

Migraine is a pressing issue for many, hampering their day to day lives. It was a great news for patients with migraine just few months back when the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first treatment to target calcitonin-gene-related peptides (CGRP). They finally got a drug to abate migraine. However, a recent study conducted has shown that hardly any patients are aware of the CGRP therapies and are therefore, not taking the medications to tackle migraine. The study has been conducted by Health Union LLC which revealed that only one-third of the respondents were aware of this therapy. Also Read - Cold weather or winter headaches - What causes them?

CGRPs happen to be the first medication that has been particularly designed for preventing migraine and several pharmaceutical companies have their own version in clinical development at present, reported the PR Newswire. Also Read - Do you get frequent headaches? Up your magnesium intake

Despite CGRP therapies being a breakthrough in migraine medication, the patients who are familiar with the medication had a wide range of concerns about these drugs including affordability and cost, insurance coverage, side effects, availability, functions, if they are more effective than existing treatments and how they will react with available treatments. The research has pointed out that even the physicians provide very little information to the patients about the new medications. Also Read - Yoga poses for migraine: How to get relief from that pounding pain

According to the recent report by the PR Newswire, Tim Armand, president and co-founder at Health Union, said: “People are very excited about what these treatments could potentially mean for their condition management, but – plain and simple – they have a lot of questions and concerns. Since there haven’t been as many CGRP-related conversations on the physician level, we hope people living with migraine can come to our community and get the information they need while sharing their experiences with others.”

The other alternative therapies for migraine include vitamins, exercise and marijuana for preventing triggers.

Image Source: Shutterstock

Published : August 10, 2018 10:10 am | Updated:August 10, 2018 4:41 pm

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