telcagepant

The developers of one of the up-and-coming migraine drugs, Telcagepant, announced late last month that it was going to delay taking the drug to the FDA.  It looks like the drug could be shelved – but will it be?

Financially, telcagepant was to be one of Merck’s new key drugs.  But we’re talking about big money here – the potential to make a lot, or lose a lot, so no one seems to be sure what will happen next.

What happened?  The trial involved taking telcagepant on a daily basis as a migraine preventative.  Some of the patients experienced a problem – they started developing high levels of liver enzymes (transaminases).  So the trial was scrapped.

But telcagepant isn’t just being investigated for preventative use, but also as an abortive.  So now it looks like Merck will go ahead with trials in hopes that telcagepant can be used to stop a migraine attack once it starts.  Obviously, doses were different and less frequent (only during attacks) when used as an abortive.

Still, do expect a delay.  At this point Merck says nothing will be submitted to the FDA this year.

Whether or not the drug successfully continues to the market, it does represent a trajectory of research that is going on to find more scientifically current ways to treat migraine.  This is not the only new drug on the horizon.

The original Merck report on telcagepant.  To learn more about telcagepant, read What Everyone should know about Telcagepant – the coming Migraine Drug