Roger Cady, MD: Rapid Effect of Eptinezumab on Migraine

“Now that we have a drug that literally within the first day of infusion is providing efficacy to patients is quite amazing. I do think it’s a real change in the paradigm.”

Even with the rapid expansion of novel agents into the migraine care landscape in the last few years, traditionally, patients can sometimes require up to 6 months of treatment before experiencing clinical benefit. As migraine is a crippling and debilitating disease, this often does not meet the hopes of many patients and their physicians.

At the American Headache Society (AHS) Virtual Annual Scientific Meeting on June 13, 2020, data were presented on 1 of those novel options, the recently FDA-approved eptinezumab (Vyepti; Lundbeck), which demonstrated that this long wait time may be a thing of the past. The calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) targeted agent showed a rapid effect on those who were treated with it in the PROMISE-1 (NCT02559895) and PROMISE-2 (NCT02974153) were double-blind studies, with ≥50% reductions in migraine observed just 1-day post-dosing.

The authors of that work concluded that the novel closed testing analysis they conducted “suggests the onset of a migraine preventive effect with intravenous eptinezumab on the day following the initial dose.” To find out more, NeurologyLive spoke with co-investigator Roger Cady, MD, head, Neurology Medical, Lundbeck Seattle Biopharmaceuticals. He offered his perspective on the findings and what impact this may have on migraine care.

For more coverage of AHS 2020, click here.

REFERENCE
Dodick DW, Gottschalk CH, Tepper SJ, et al. Eptinezumab Demonstrated Migraine Preventive Efficacy on Day 1 After Dosing: Closed Testing Analysis From PROMISE-1 and PROMISE-2. Headache. 2020;60(S1 suppl). 1-156. doi: 10.1111/head.13854