LOS ANGELES – New results from phase 3 randomized trials of the prophylactic migraine treatment eptinezumab show significant reductions in the number of monthly migraine headache days experienced by patients with chronic or frequent episodic migraines.
Eptinezumab, an experimental monoclonal antibody delivered by intravenous infusion, is one of several antimigraine agents in development that targets calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a key mediator of migraine.
At the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, Richard Lipton, MD, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, presented results from PROMISE 2, a phase 3 randomized, placebo-controlled trial of eptinezumab in patients with chronic migraine, or 15 or more days with migraine per month.
The investigators randomized 1,072 patients to quarterly IV infusions of eptinezumab 100 or 300 mg or placebo.
The vast majority of patients in the study were women, (86%-90% across groups) with a mean age of about 40 years. Patients reported 11-12 years of chronic migraine and about 16 migraine days per month at baseline, Dr. Lipton told the conference, reflecting a high level of disability in the cohort.
The primary endpoint of the study was mean change in monthly migraine days from baseline through week 12. Dr. Lipton reported that the placebo group saw a 5.6-day reduction in migraine, while the 100-mg group saw a 7.7-day reduction, and patients receiving the 300-mg dose saw an 8.2-day reduction during the first 12 weeks after injection (P less than .0001 for both).
One-third of patients receiving the highest dose saw a 75% or greater reduction in monthly migraine days by week 12, “a relatively high bar” to meet, Dr. Lipton said. Some 61% of patients on the high dose saw a reduction of 50% or more in the same time period.