US EditionMigraine drug is first to tackle debilitating early symptoms
- Peter Goadsby and colleagues published a 2025 phase 3 trial in Nature Medicine showing ubrogepant reduces disabling early migraine symptoms before headache onset.
- The trial addressed a gap since previous migraine treatments targeted only headache pain, with no effective therapy for prodromal symptoms like light sensitivity and fatigue.
- Involving 438 adults aged 18 to 75 who had migraines, participants reported improved concentration one hour after dosing and reductions in photophobia, fatigue, neck pain, dizziness, and sound sensitivity over hours.
- Peter Goadsby noted that patients taking ubrogepant experienced a greater chance of improvement in non-pain migraine symptoms before headache onset, although the overall effect size remained modest, with differences under 15 percentage points compared to placebo.
- These results suggest ubrogepant may clinically relieve early migraine symptoms and prevent headache onset, highlighting the need for further research to confirm these effects.
17 Articles
17 Articles
Study Shows Ubrogepant Can Address Non-Headache Symptoms
Experiencing a migraine involves severe headaches, but they don’t show up alone. They are often accompanied by what the Mayo Clinic describes as “visual disturbances,” as well as neurological sensations that leave someone feeling even worse. “The pain always travels in some way, and it’s undeniably overwhelming,” explained Terri Battenburg in a 2022 article for SELF. “I usually just try to power through it, but it’s like trying to swim through m…
Well-known migraine drug also helps relieve pre-symptoms of the disease
Ubrogepant, currently used primarily to relieve headaches associated with migraine attacks, may also prevent and relieve debilitating migraine pre-symptoms such as fatigue and sensitivity to light, a recent clinical trial suggests. However, only about one in five people appear to benefit from the drug.
Migraine drug can also help with symptoms that occur before the actual headache begins
A drug to treat migraine, ubrogepant, is also found to reduce common non-headache symptoms that occur in the hours preceding a migraine headache, according to the results of a large phase three clinical trial published in Nature Medicine. The findings suggest that ubrogepant may be the first acute treatment for the symptoms that occur before migraine, which have a considerable impact on daily function.
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