Symptoms like nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and some smells, blurred vision, difficulty speaking and a lot of headache don't seem pleasant at all, right? Now imagine having a crisis with several of these manifestations for 4 to 72 uninterrupted hours. That's what a person who has a migraine feels like.
If you suffer from this problem, we have good news: a very efficient new injection against this condition should be available in Brazil by the end of the year, estimates neurologist and professor Mário Peres of the Institute of Psychiatry at the USP School of Medicine. .
This drug is undergoing the latest tests in the United States and, according to Dr. Peres, it must be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the first half of 2018 and by Anvisa in the second half and is then made available. over here.
This is the first time in 20 years of research that a drug has shown such effective results against migraine: During testing, patients who received a 140 mg dose of the drug reported 50% fewer attacks per month, while those who received half the dose. had a 43.3% reduction.
How Migraine Injection Works
Is the new injection being produced on the basis of a drug called erenumab that prevents the onset of a seizure through the action of so-called monoclonal antibodies? The same technique used in some cancer treatments, which was recognized with the Nobel Prize in 1984.
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The name of this technique may be strange, but its operation is quite interesting: to produce erenumab, do scientists clone? a human antibody and then teach the cloned antibody to recognize a specific molecule which triggers the mechanism of migraine.
That way, the? Clones? They are able to chase and destroy these molecules (just as our antibodies do when they encounter a virus or bacteria circulating throughout the body). This causes a blockage of the chain of reactions that would lead to a crisis.
In addition to a reduction in the number of these unpleasant events, patients who tested erenumab injection also reported a decrease in duration and intensity of symptoms, a lower need for pain-relieving drugs, and an improvement in their ability to perform their tasks. day by day.
Another good news: Although some patients report that the injection site got a little sore, erenumab itself was well tolerated, with no significant side effects.
The importance of developing this injection
Until now, treatment for migraine was done by administering medicines that were actually developed for other health problems, such as some anticonvulsants (topiramate and divalproate), antidepressants (amitriptyline) and antihypertensives (propranolol).
Read also: 5 Effective Home Remedies to Fight Migraines and Headaches
These substances may even have some benefit for people who suffer from this condition on a chronic basis, but unfortunately they cause unpleasant side effects such as involuntary weight gain (amitriptyline) and memory problems (topiramate).
There is a class of migraine-fighting drugs that includes triptans; However, these substances are only used when the crisis is already happening and are not able to prevent it.
And it is precisely in these two points that erenumab stands out: this new drug does not have these side effects and still acts preventively, improving the quality of life of patients.
Because research has been done with monthly injections for six months, scientists say further testing is needed to determine the long-term safety and durability of erenumab. Are experts in the field quite excited about the news anyway? and migraine sufferers are certainly hoping for it to be available in Brazil as soon as possible.
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