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Introduction: Eletriptan is a recently marketed second-generation triptan with a potent agonist activity on 5-HT1B/ 1D receptors. Our aim has been to analyze the specific results from the Spanish participation in phase IIIa and IIIb clinical trials vs placebo and compare them with the results obtained in the global clinical development of eletriptan., Patients and Methods: Analysis of the results obtained in 40 centers in Spain (358 patients) vs global sample 4,677 patients) for the first migraine attack in 6 controlled clinical trials with eletriptan 40 mg, eletriptan 80 mg and placebo. This ad hoc analysis was carried out for those treatment groups with more than 50 patients, which reduced the final number of patients from Spain to 250., Results: The proportion of patients with relief at 2 hours (main endpoint) in the Spanish sample was 22 %, 59 % and 67 % for placebo, eletriptan 40 mg and eletriptan 80 mg, respectively. These values were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than those of placebo and similar to those from the total sample. The proportion of pain free patients at 2 hours in the Spanish sample was 10 %, 36 % and 41 % for placebo, eletriptan 40 mg and eletriptan 80 mg, respectively. These values were significantly better than those for placebo (p < 0.05) and about 15 %-20 % higher than those from the total sample. Recurrence rate in the Spanish sample was 50 %, 16 % and 25 % for placebo, eletriptan 40 and eletriptan 80 mg, respectively, and did not differ from that of the total sample. Sustained relief for the two eletriptan doses was 46 % for both eletriptan 40 and eletriptan 80, this being significant (p < 0.05) over placebo (11 %) for the Spanish sample and similar to that of the global sample. The results for other efficacy parameters, such as need of rescue medication, functional response at 2 hours, complete response for pain-freeness and acceptability followed a similar pattern. Eletriptan was, in general, well-tolerated. Adverse events were slight-moderate in intensity, transient and were not different, either in profile or proportion, from those from the global sample., Conclusions: These results confirm eletriptan 40 mg and 80 mg as an excellent option for the symptomatic treatment of migraine in our setting.

Objectives: To compare patient-reported use of rizatriptan 10 mg with that of almotriptan 12.5 mg per migraine attack (24 hours) in a Spanish population., Methods: One hundred twenty Spanish community pharmacies recruited patients with migraine to whom they had dispensed almotriptan and rizatriptan. No other selection criteria were used. Patients kept diaries for baseline pain intensity, the number of triptan tablets used, additional medication taken per attack, and their degree of satisfaction with the medication 2 hours after the initial dose. Patients recorded details for a maximum of 3 attacks. Analysis of variance or the Student t test and chi-squared or Fisher exact tests were used for univariate comparisons. A generalized estimating equation method was used to correct for within-subject variability. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated., Results: One hundred twenty-six patients (85% women) recorded data for 318 migraine attacks. Rizatriptan was used to treat 122 attacks, almotriptan was used to treat 110 attacks, and a nontriptan medication was used in the initial treatment of 86 attacks. Triptan use (adjusted mean, 95% CI) per attack in this study was lower for rizatriptan (1.19 tablets; 95% CI, 1.06 to 1.32) than for almotriptan (1.43 tablets; 95% CI, 1.30 to 1.56; P=.003). The use of a triptan and additional medication per attack increased with baseline pain severity. Rizatriptan was used to treat more attacks with only one tablet (78%) than almotriptan (58%). Treatment of attacks with almotriptan was more than twice as likely to involve the use of more than one tablet per attack (24 hours) than those treated with rizatriptan (adjusted OR, 2.42; 95% CI, 1.37 to 4.30; P=.003). Patient satisfaction with treatment response at 2 hours was more than 2-fold greater for rizatriptan (85%) than for almotriptan (68%) (adjusted OR, 2.55; 95% CI, 1.11 to 5.87; P=.03)., Conclusions: In this prescription-selected Spanish population, a significantly lower number of rizatriptan tablets were required to treat migraine attacks compared with almotriptan. Further, patients were more than twice as likely to use more than one tablet or additional medication (or both) for attacks treated with almotriptan than for those treated with rizatriptan. Although these data suggest that rizatriptan may be a more effective treatment for migraine than almotriptan, further randomized studies are required to confirm this conclusion.

Background: Almotriptan, the most recent drug of the triptan family, has shown good efficacy and tolerability profile in clinical trials., Objective: To assess almotriptan's tolerability and effectiveness in the setting of routine clinical practice., Patients and Methods: 1,643 patients diagnosed of migraine according to IHS criteria were recruited by 317 neurologists in the TEA 2000 study. Patients were instructed to report data on migraine attacks in a diary for a three months follow-up period. Data from 4,253 migraine attacks were obtained., Results: The incidence of adverse events was 0.02 per migraine attack (3,9 % of patients). Subjective clinical improvement after 30 minutes (33.2 y 37.1 %), pain improvement after 2 hours (65.5 % and 70.2 %), pain free response after 2 hours (26.6 % and 29.2 %), recurrence between 2 and 24 hours (21.2 % and 17 %) and a complete response by 24 hours (18.6 % and 22.9 %) were found. These results were obtained in both "intention to treat" and "per protocol" analyses, being even much better when only low pain intensity attacks were considered., Conclusions: The TEA 2000 study results demonstrate good effectiveness and excellent tolerability profile of almotriptan 12.5 mg in the daily clinical neurological practice. The results of this study confirm those obtained in clinical trials carried out before almotriptan was introduced into the market and that it is a good therapeutic choice for the symptomatic treatment for migraine attacks.

Understanding factors influencing patients' preference will improve guidance to make rational choices in expanded symptomatic migraine treatment. The objective of this open-label, cross-over study was to explore patients' preferences for sumatriptan 50 mg vs. zolmitriptan 2.5 mg tablets, focusing on factors influencing this preference. One hundred consecutive migraine patients attending our clinics were asked to treat three attacks with each medication and then fill out a preference questionnaire. Ninety-four migraineurs completed the trial and 42 (44%, 95% CI 34-58%) reported that they preferred zolmitriptan 2.5 mg over sumatriptan 50 mg tablets and 27 (29%, 20-38%) preferred sumatriptan 50 mg. The remaining 25 (27%, 18-36%) did not show any preference. For the initial treatment of the attacks, there were more patients needing just one tablet of zolmitriptan 2.5 mg compared with sumatriptan 50 mg (67 vs. 39%). The reasons for preference among those 69 patients who had shown preference for either of the two triptans were: a faster onset of action (speed of onset) (73%), a longer duration of the effects (39%), fewer adverse events (35%) and lower price (13%). Only one-quarter of the studied migraine population thought that sumatriptan 50 mg and zolmitriptan 2.5 mg were equivalent, which suggests that most migraine patients differentiate between triptans. A faster onset of action (speed of onset) was the most important reason for preference.

Objectives: The response to the different antimigraine medications is variable. In this study we have analysed the profile of prescription of these antimigraine medications, both preventive and symptomatic, by a group of spanish neurologists and examined the subjective efficacy of these compounds., Patients and Methods: Neurologists from 7 hospitals in different spanish regions interviewed 305 patients (at least 40 per hospital) who met migraine diagnostic criteria. They used an ad hoc questionnaire in which the antimigraine medications, both symptomatic and preventive, taken by the patients, as well as their subjective response were registered. Patients with transformed migraine or tension-type headache more than 2 days per week were excluded., Results: Analgesics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, ergotics and sumatriptan had been taken by 99, 69, 54 and 40% of the 305 interviewed patients, respectively. A subjective good response was refered to by 9% of patients who had taken analgesics, 23% of patients who had taken non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, 39% of those who had taken ergotics and 63% of patients with sumatriptan. The current symptomatic treatment was: analgesics 34% of cases, non-steroidal anti-inflamatory drugs 26%, ergotics 13% and sumatriptan 63%. Regarding preventive treatments, 108 patients (35%) had been treated with calcium-antagonists, 87 (29%) with beta-blockers, 55 (18%) with amitriptyline and only 7 (2.2%) with valproic acid. The percentages of good responses to these drugs were: 55% for beta-blockers, 42% for calcium-antagonists and 31% for amitriptyline., Conclusions: Our data confirm that analgesics are not efficacious in the majority of migraine patients and that the advent of sumatriptan has clearly improved the quality of migrane symptomatic treatment, even though about one-third of migraine patients do not respond to this drug. This study confirm that calcium-antagonists are the antimigraine preventive treatment most frequently prescribed in our country, even though their subjective efficacy is lower than that of beta-blockers.

Zolmitriptan (previously known as 311C90) is a serotoninergic 5-HT1B/D agonist with high oral bioavailability with a double, central and peripheral, action mechanism. Evaluation of its clinical efficacy was developed in a program of clinical studies (search and confirmation of dosis, comparative and long term studies) and through analysis of efficacy in different clinical situations. Zolmitriptan shows a high effectiveness in the treatment of migraine crisis, significantly reduces the headaches by 2 hours of its administration, reduce the symptoms associated with migraine (nausea, photophobia and phonophobia) and improves the quality of life of the migraine patient. The efficacy is independent of the type of migraine characteristics of the patient as well as of the administration of other concomitant medications. The dosis of 2.5 mg of zolmitriptan has been found to be the optimum considering both efficacy and tolerability.

We present the results of treatment with subcutaneous sumatriptan in migraine attacks. The study comprised forty-two patients suffering from migraine both with and without aura, with migraine attacks not susceptible to analgesics, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID), ergotics or else intolerance to the same. Two groups were independently analyzed, one consisting of ten patients who had menstrual migraine continually for twelve months, the other consisting of thirty-two patients suffering from migraine with and without aura for six months. We assessed the effectiveness of the drug (reduction in the intensity and duration of the attack, action, speed, recurrence) and tolerance (adverse effects). The effectiveness of sumatriptan in relieving headache was 75.9% (80% in the case of the menstrual migraine group and 71.8% in the case of the migraine with and without aura group). This effectiveness was maintained in a similar fashion by analyzing independently the first and last months of treatment. Adverse effects were noted in 38.7% of patients treated (40% for the menstrual migraine group, 37.5% for those with migraine with and without aura). The most frequent effects were pain at the point of injection, a feeling of general tiredness, nausea and a sensation of tension in the neck or chest. These effects were largely slight and short lived. No serious adverse effects were reported. A long term analysis carried out on the menstrual migraine group shows the efficacy of sumatriptan is kept up, with improved tolerance of the drug and a decrease in the number of negative side effects noted.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)