AbbVie’s Ubrelvy, which is used to relieve migraine headache pain, can also prevent that pain from developing, helping patients go about their daily lives with little or no symptoms and improving their quality of life, researchers found.
Ubrelvy has been commercially available in the U.S. for treating migraine headaches since 2019. Its active ingredient, ubrogepant, was the first in a class of medications that inhibit the action of proteins involved in migraines called calcitonin gene-related peptide, or CGRP, receptors.
A study published on Wednesday in Neurology focused on 518 people with frequent migraines who could tell when an attack was imminent, due to early “prodromal” symptoms such as sensitivity to light and sound, fatigue, neck pain or stiffness, or dizziness.
Two potential migraine attacks were treated with the onset of prodromal symptoms, one with the AbbVie drug and the other with a placebo.
Twenty-four hours later, 65% of people after taking ubrogepant reported themselves as “not at all limited – I could do everything,” or “a little limited,” compared to 48% of those who had taken the placebo.
As early as two hours post-medication, people who took the drug were 73% more likely to report “no disability, able to function normally,” than those who took the placebo.
“Improving care at the first signs of migraine, even before headache pain begins, can be a key to improved outcomes,” study leader Dr. Richard Lipton of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York said in a statement.
“Our findings are encouraging, suggesting that ubrogepant may help people with migraine function normally and go about their day.”
