Science / Medicine : New Drug Shows Promise in Treatment of Migraines

A new drug called sumatriptan has shown promise in treating migraine headaches in a multicenter clinical trial, neurologist James Couch of Southern Illinois University reported last week at a Boston meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.

Subjects undergoing a migraine attack were given an injection of sumatriptan under the skin. “Within one hour of treatment, approximately 70% of patients who received a single six-milligram dose had mild or no headache pain and clinical disability,” Couch said. Other studies showed that the amount of pain relief was directly proportional to the dose of the drug.

As many as 45 million Americans suffer from migraines, severe headaches accompanied by nausea and aversion to light, according to the National Headache Foundation. The most common drug in use now for aborting migraines is ergotamine, which is effective in as many as 70% of patients, but is intensely nauseating.

Sumatriptan’s manufacturer, Glaxo Holdings PLC of London, expects to receive permission from the Food and Drug Administration to market it in the near future.