Recently, two new drugs for migraine treatment have arrived in our country. These drugs have been in use abroad for several years. Both of them are administered in the form of injections and have taken their place in migraine prevention treatments, also known as prophylactic treatments, with monthly applications.

The difference of these drugs from previous migraine treatments is that they are entirely specific to migraines. Migraine is not an ordinary headache; it is a pain disorder seen in the population with a prevalence of up to 16%, and in the female population, it can be as high as 25% (Ertaş et al., 2012). As the mechanisms of migraine pain formation have been illuminated, these mechanisms have been targeted for treatment, and it has been possible to develop drugs based on a molecule abbreviated as CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide) in recent years. Extensive multi-center studies conducted in large patient groups have shown the effectiveness of these drugs (Reuter et al., 2018; Mulleners et al., 2020). There are even some studies suggesting that these injections may be beneficial in cluster headaches (Goadsby et al., 2019).

The use of these injections in migraines has recently been approved by the Ministry of Health. Although they are not yet covered by the Social Security Institution (SGK) reimbursement, treatment applications and positive results have already begun to be achieved domestically.

In order to provide patients with options from modern medicine and to steer them away from non-medical practices, we announce these new drug developments to our people and wish them headache-free days.

References:

Ertaş, M., et al. (2012). J Headache Pain, 13, 147–157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10194-011-0414-5

Reuter U., et al. Lancet. 2018 Nov 24;392(10161):2280-2287. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32534-0

Mulleners WM et al. Lancet Neurol. 2020 Oct;19(10):814-825. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(20)30279-9

Goadsby P et al. N Engl J Med. 2019 Jul 11;381(2):132-141. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1813440.