Biohaven’s CGPR antagonist migraine treatment beats placebo in Phase 3 trial

pharmafile | July 11, 2019 | News story | Research and Development |  Biohaven, CGPR, clinical trials, headache, migraine, pharma 

Connecticut-based firm Biohaven has said its migraine drug rimegepant showed superiority over placebo in a Phase 3 clinical trial.

The calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist was successful in relieving pain in patients with migraine in a Phase 3 trial, the results of which are published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

Biohaven’s drug was well tolerated among those participating in the Phase 3 trial of 1,186 migraine patients. The most frequent adverse event was nausea, occurring in 1.8% of those who took rimegepant compared to 1.1% of those who took placebo, and urinary tract infection (UTI) which occurred in 1.5% of the rimegepant group compared to 1.1% of the placebo group.

“The results from this study demonstrate rimegepant’s potential as an effective treatment for migraine, a widespread, disabling disease that has seen only minimal improvements in acute treatment since the 1990s,” said Lead Author Dr Richard Lipton, Professor and Vice Chair of Neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System.

The positive results signal progress is being made in the disease which affects an estimated 40 million Americans. Despite the large number of patients little progress has been made in migraine since the 1990s. 

Louis Goss