Big News for Nurtec ODT (Rimegepant)
Last month it was announced that the migraine medication Nurtec ODT was approved for the preventative treatment of episodic migraine in adults. This is big news – but you need to understand a little bit of background.
Nurtec ODT, or rimegepant, is one of the new medications that targets CGRP. There are a number of different treatments that are emerging related to CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide). And researchers have been investigating which treatments might be better for prevention, and which may be better to take to stop a migraine attack as it happens.
Rimegepant is in the “gepant” class (hence the last part of its name), a CGRP receptor antagonist. It has been noted for a while that the gepant drugs tend to work very quickly – excellent as an abortive drug to take during a migraine attack. And when Nurtec ODT hit the market, one of its selling-points was that it came as a a fast-acting orally disintegrating tablet – ODT.
But while these drugs have been shuffled down into either the “preventative” or “abortive” category, the question has remained – is it possible that some may be effective as both? In the case of rimegepant, researchers noticed that it tended to have a more sustained effect than some other CGRP related medications. So it seemed like a good candidate for a preventative.
And it seems that this is the case. This from the Biohaven Pharmaceuticals press release:
This new approval makes NURTEC ODT the first oral CGRP antagonist approved for the preventive treatment of migraine, and the only migraine medication approved as a dual therapy for both the acute and preventive treatment. NURTEC ODT is approved for acute treatment in all eligible adult patients with migraine, regardless of the number of monthly migraine days.
FDA Approves Biohaven’s NURTEC® ODT (rimegepant) for Prevention
For abortive use, the medication is taken as a 75mg dose. Because of the sustained effect, only one tablet is taken within 24 hours.
For preventative use, it’s the same – 75mg, once every other day.
Not only does Nurtec ODT have a good safety record, it will be very attractive for patients who are looking for a preventative, especially if they don’t like to take a number of pills every day. Of course, you do have to find a way to remember to take it every other day – but migraine patients do learn to be organized!
So this is big news. We’ll see if other CGRP related medications also cross the line from one type of medication to another. Meanwhile, many migraine patients who are experiencing a lot of migraine symptoms in a given month will be looking to see if Nurtec ODT is right for them.
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