Six-month therapy of CGRP monoclonal antibodies in real-world clinical practice: an interim analysis of efficacy and safety data

Introduction. Migraine is one of the most common disabling neurological disorders. Recently developed monoclonal antibodies to calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) or its receptor are the first targeted medication for preventive therapy of both episodic and chronic migraine. They have been thoroughly investigated in clinical trials; however, there is little data from real-world clinical practice available to date. The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy and safety of 6 months of treatment with erenumab in real-world clinical practice and investigate the effect of the drug on the patients’ sensitivity to medicines for migraine headaches relief and patient satisfaction after treatment.Materials and methods. Our observational cohort prospective study included patients in our Headache Clinic prescribed monoclonal antibodies blocking the CGRP-receptor – erenumab. During the investigation, we evaluated the previous preventive therapy and its efficacy, the number of days with migraine per month, adverse events occurring during the erenumab treatment, depression and anxiety (HADS), migraine disability (MIDAS), the presence of allodynia (ACS-12) and improved response to acute therapy after treatment. A total of 42 patients participated in the study: 6 men, 36 women, the average age was 43.9 ± 12.2. Of them, 38 patients (90%) had chronic migraine. Thirty-two patients (76%) had previously been prescribed preventive therapy, which proved ineffective, and 10 patients (24%) had not once received any type of migraine prevention.Results. Among our patients, we identified 11 patients with resistant migraine and one patient with refractory migraine. During the study, two patients dropped out due to adverse events (constipation). Thirty patients continued the administration of erenumab 70 mg for at least six months. The average number of migraine days per month before treatment was 22.8, and after six months of treatment, it dropped to 7.3. Twenty-nine patients (72.5%) also noted that the response to acute headache treatment improved after the therapy.Conclusion. The results of our study are consistent with the international experience of using erenumab and confirm its effectiveness for migraine preventive therapy, including difficult-to-treat migraine cases. However, further studies with more participants and evaluation of predictors of successful monoclonal antibody therapy are still needed.