Fremanezumab for the prevention of chronic and episodic migraine

Abstract

On September 15, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved subcutaneous fremanezumab, a calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) monoclonal antibody, for the treatment of episodic and chronic migraine in adults, with two recommended dosages: 225 mg monthly or 675 mg every 3 months. On March 28, 2019, the European Commission granted fremanezumab Marketing Authorization in the E.U. for the same indication. In this monograph we review data on the pharmacokinetics, metabolism and safety of fremanezumab as reported in the scientific literature from phase I to phase III studies. Fremanezumab demonstrated a very low incidence of adverse events. Primary and secondary endpoints in randomized, controlled trials on the efficacy of fremanezumab were achieved. Fremanezumab was demonstrated to be able to reduce the number of migraine days, headache hours and number of days with use of acute treatment agents. No data on drug-drug interactions with fremanezumab are available. However, it is worth mentioning that fremanezumab showed a very low incidence of development of adverse drug antibodies compared with other CGRP antibodies.

Keywords: Analgesic drugs; Calcitonin generelated peptide (CGRP) inhibitors; Fremanezumab; Migraine; Monoclonal antibodies.