Better Options To Fight Debilitating Migraines On The Way
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Researchers are testing a new class of drugs that are offering new hope to those fighting migraines.
Better options could soon be available, reports CBS2's Tom Hanson.
Donna Esterine has suffered from debilitating migraines for years.
"It's like a sharp pain right up here in my forehead, my eyes," she said.
The 48-year-old mother of two says she's missed family time and work to try to cope.
"I would take a lot of sick days only because I couldn't take it," said Esterine. "You know I'd have to be home, laying down again."
She took standard migraine medications known as triptans, but they made her feel nauseous.
Then she enrolled in a clinical trial testing a new drug called Rimegepant that belongs to a new generation of treatments targeting a migraine molecule.
There hasn't been a new mechanism for the acute treatment of migraine that has come on the market since the early 1990s
New research in the New England Journal of Medicine finds Rimegepant successfully relieves pain and the other symptoms, including nausea and light sensitivity.
Dr. Richard Lipton at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System, led the study which was sponsored by the drug company. The research looked at more than 1,000 men and women treating moderate to severe pain.
"People who have side effects to triptans, people who don't respond to triptans, people who have cardiovascular contraindications to triptans will be the ideal candidates for this drug," said Lipton.
The study also shows the drug has very few side-effects.
Esterine says she's finally getting relief from her migraines.
"It goes away so much faster so I do feel OK, I don't get any side effects," she said.
The drug gives her the ability to get right back to her life.