If you’re no stranger to migraines, then this news might just make your day. Whether they wipe you out for days, their warning signs include dizziness, nausea, flashing lights or the standard headache, or if your migraines always seem to strike at your weakest moment, you could be one of millions who may have been offered hope in a new treatment referred to as the ‘holy grail’ drug.
Although painkillers and other drugs can ease symptoms, they don’t always work for everyone, and a drug which can prevent migraines altogether is yet to reach shelves.
However, early trials run by Alder BioPharmaceuticals have shown that a new drug can reduce the number of migraine attacks by almost 75% in some patients. This is great news for patients who suffer from appalling migraine attacks which can often have an effect on their day-to-day lives.
The new ‘wonder’ drug works by tackling the protein known as CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide), responsible for the pain and nausea most people associate with their migraine. The researchers found that another blood protein helped ‘mop up’ CGRP, stopping it from triggering a migraine.
Professor Peter Goadsby of the UK Migraine Trust said, “This is a huge development for migraine sufferers. There is no specific treatment that has been developed for migraines. All the studies that have been done are positive, and there has been an almost embarrassing lack of side effects.”
“For a group of people who have never had a proper treatment, this is fantastic news.”
If further studies are successful, the company hopes to bring the drugs to patients within three years. This drug could help those who suffer as migraines as a result of other conditions such as brain cancer, as a result of a stroke, who get suffer from frequent or intense stress, and CVS.
