Brian Grosberg, MD

“A device like this offers an opportunity for patients to not have to think about [sacrificing medication use], where they can end up using it, and they don’t have to feel like they’re necessarily sacrificing efficacy.”

At the American Headache Society’s 2018 Scottsdale Headache Symposium, a number of neuromodulatory and neurostimulating devices were on display a number of product theaters. In fact, Theranica even announced positive results for its Nerivio Migra non-invasive neuromodulation device for acute migraine treatment.

Although a number of acute therapies exist for patients with migraine and several others are in development, there remains a large number of patients who are resistant to treatments such as triptans. This has led in part, to an increase in the number of devices intended to provide relief to these patients—the Nerivio Migra among them.

Brian Grosberg, MD, the director of the Hartford Headache Center in Connecticut, was the principal investigator in the TCH-003 trial of the Theranica device. As such, he sat down with 

 at the Symposium to discuss the trend toward device use in migraine treatment, and some of the reasons that may have prompted it.

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The director of the Hartford Headache Center spoke about the trend toward device use in migraine treatment, and some of the reasons that may have prompted it.

Brian Grosberg, MD: Device Development in Migraine

“It’s an exciting thing to end up thinking about where now there’s an option available with a therapeutic gain, a benefit…are approximately what we end up seeing in triptan studies.”

Recently, Theranica, a biomedical technology developer of electroceuticals for the treatment of migraine and other idiopathic pain disorders, announced positive results for its Nerivio Migra non-invasive neuromodulation device, in the TCH-003 study in the acute treatment of migraine.

The prospective, randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, and multi-center study assessed the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of the Nerivio Migra on 252 patients who met the 

International Classification of Headache Disorders, Third Edition

) criteria for migraine with or without aura. They were randomized 1:1 to either the active arm or placebo.

Brian Grosberg, MD, the director of the Hartford Healthcare Headache Center in Connecticut, and lead investigator on the trial, provided some insight into the findings, showing the primary end point of pain relief at 2 hours post-treatment with the device demonstrating a 66.7% response rate in the active arm compared to 38.8% in the placebo arm (

At the American Headache Society’s 2018 Scottsdale Headache Symposium in Arizona, Grosberg sat with NeurologyLive to discuss this device and its potential in the treatment of acute migraine. He noted its comparable outcomes to the pharmacologic acute treatments.

The director of the Hartford Healthcare Headache Center in Connecticut and lead investigator on the trial provided some insight into the study's findings.

Author | Brian Grosberg, MD

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Brian Grosberg, MD: Device Development in Migraine

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