Exploring the Risk of Hypertension Following Erenumab Treatment for Migraine: Nikita Chhabra, DO

WATCH TIME: 6 minutes

"The number one thing this study helped support was the fact that post-marketing data is always new and is up for interpretation when we have the medication available. Many patients become able to take this medication, and then we start to see some adverse effects. It's important to acknowledge the adverse events and explore the adverse effects rather than ignoring them."

Approved in 2018, erenumab (Aimovig; Sanofi) is a monoclonal antibody targeting the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor for migraine prevention in adults. The CGRP receptor plays a role in the regulation of vasomotor tone under physiologic and pathologic conditions such as high blood pressure. Post-marketing research suggests erenumab may be associated with hypertension, which has led to FDA warning in the prescription, despite the lack of evidence of observed in preclinical models or clinical trials.¹

Recently, findings from a retrospective study that evaluated patients treated with erenumab between 2018 and 2021 were recently presented at the 2023 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting, April 22-27, in Boston, Massachusetts by Nikita Chhabra, DO. In the study, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were compared prior to initiation of erenumab and while on erenumab. The final analysis included 335 patients with an average age of 45.7 years old (SD, 14.40) and mostly comprised of women (83.9%). At the baseline, 20.9% of patients had pre-existing hypertension and the average follow up time was 30.6 weeks (SD, 29.87). Results showed that 23.3% of all patients had blood pressure worsening.

After the meeting, Chhabra, sat down with NeurologyLive® in an interview to discuss the results of the retrospective cohort study, as well as the limitations of the study regarding generalizability and measurement of blood pressure. In addition, Chhabra spoke about the importance of conducting an additional randomized controlled trial to address the impact of migraine medication on blood pressure.

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REFERENCES
1. Chhabra N, Mead-Harvey C, Iser C, et al. Investigating the Risk of Hypertension After Initiation of Erenumab in the Post-Market Setting. Presented at: 2023 AAN Annual Meeting; April 22-27, Boston, Massachusetts. Abstract 009.