QULIPTA (Atogepant) Recent Reports
It’s about time to have an update on QULIPTA, otherwise known as atogepant, a newer migraine preventative.
You may remember that we were talking about atogepant back in 2020. At a time when many medications were coming out as injections, atogepant was a bit of a breath of fresh air. A preventative, taken orally, and only taken once a day (10, 30 or 60mg), with or without food. Much more convenient even than many other oral preventatives.
Atogepant was approved by the FDA in 2021, but studies continue. QULIPTA came up at the June 2022 American Headache Society 64th Annual Scientific Meeting a number of times, and we’re learning more about it as it begins to be used more in the general population.
For example, it was found that some patients seem to lose weight when taking atogepant. It’s a minority, but still a significant number. Not only were patients less likely to gain weight, some actually lost weight taking the medication. Something to watch.
It was confirmed once again that you can take atogepant with or without food. The difference seems to be negligible.
It seems that although many patients find their symptoms diminishing in the first month of treatment, others do need to wait 2 or even 3 months before atogepant works for them. And so far, patients taking the preventative for a year seem to still benefit (we’ll keep watching this – remember, the medication is very new!).
A patient who took the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine experienced continuous migraine visual aura, and was successfully treated using atogepant. This may be a useful treatment for migraine symptoms after vaccination, another one to watch.
More studies have been done on the overall safety of QULIPTA. So far, the news is good – it seems to be generally safe. However, as with any medication, it is very important to tell your doctor about any supplements, medications, vitamins, and so on, that you may be taking. This may affect your dosage.
For more information about atogepant, visit the official QULIPTA site here.