Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2022 Apr;29(4):1198-1208.
doi: 10.1111/ene.15197. Epub 2021 Dec 6.

Rapid response to galcanezumab and predictive factors in chronic migraine patients: A 3-month observational, longitudinal, cohort, multicenter, Italian real-life study

Fabrizio Vernieri  1 , Claudia Altamura  1 , Nicoletta Brunelli  1 , Carmelina Maria Costa  1 , Cinzia Aurilia  2 , Gabriella Egeo  2 , Luisa Fofi  2 , Valentina Favoni  3 , Carlo Lovati  4 , Davide Bertuzzo  5 , Florindo d'Onofrio  6 , Alberto Doretti  7 , Paola Di Fiore  8 , Cinzia Finocchi  9 , Francesca Schiano Di Cola  10 , Angelo Ranieri  11 , Bruno Colombo  12 , Francesco Bono  13 , Maria Albanese  14   15 , Sabina Cevoli  3 , Piero Barbanti  2   16 ; GARLIT Study Group
Collaborators, Affiliations
Free article
Observational Study

Rapid response to galcanezumab and predictive factors in chronic migraine patients: A 3-month observational, longitudinal, cohort, multicenter, Italian real-life study

Fabrizio Vernieri et al. Eur J Neurol. 2022 Apr.
Free article

Erratum in

  • Erratum.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] Eur J Neurol. 2023 Jun;30(6):1841. doi: 10.1111/ene.15757. Epub 2023 Mar 10. Eur J Neurol. 2023. PMID: 36905143 No abstract available.

Abstract

Background and purpose: A rapid response to preventive therapy is of pivotal importance in severely disabled patients with chronic migraine (CM) and diverse preventive treatment failures. This prospective, observational, multicenter real-life study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of galcanezumab in the first 3 months of treatment of CM patients at 14 Italian headache centers.

Methods: All consecutive adult patients with CM diagnosis with the clinical indication for galcanezumab were considered. We collected patients' baseline characteristics, monthly headache days, monthly painkiller intake, migraine clinical characteristics, and disability scale scores during a 1-month run-in period (baseline) and the first 3 months of therapy. Possible predictive factors of treatment were considered.

Results: A total of 156 patients (82.4% female, aged 47.3 ± 12.3 years) were enrolled. The 65 (41.7%) patients with a consecutive ≥50% response rate (RR) in the 3 months of therapy presented a lower body mass index (p = 0.004) and more frequently presented unilateral migraine pain (p = 0.002) and good response to triptans (p = 0.003). Persistent conversion from CM to episodic migraine was observed in 55.8% (87/156) of patients. They more frequently presented a good response to triptans (p = 0.003) and unilateral pain (p = 0.046). At baseline, 131 of 156 (83.9%) patients presented medication overuse (MO). Of these, 61.8% (81/131) no longer displayed MO consistently during the 3 months. These patients were more frequently responders to triptans (p = 0.002) and less frequently suffered from gastrointestinal comorbidity (p = 0.007).

Conclusions: Unilateral pain, good response to triptans, and normal weight may be associated with a persistent positive response in the first 3 months of therapy with galcanezumab in CM patients.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04803513.

Keywords: CGRP; chronic migraine; galcanezumab; monoclonal antibodies; real-life.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Buse DC, Manack AN, Fanning KM, et al. Chronic migraine prevalence, disability, and sociodemographic factors: results from the American migraine prevalence and prevention study. Headache. 2012;52(10):1456-1470. doi:10.1111/j.1526-4610.2012.02223.x
    1. Headache classification committee of the international headache society (IHS) the international classification of headache disorders, 3rd edition. Cephalalgia. 2018;38(1):1-211. doi:10.1177/0333102417738202
    1. Serrano D, Lipton RB, Scher AI, et al. Fluctuations in episodic and chronic migraine status over the course of 1 year: implications for diagnosis, treatment and clinical trial design. J Headache Pain. 2017;18(1):101. doi:10.1186/s10194-017-0787-1
    1. Aurora SK, Brin MF. Chronic migraine: an update on physiology, imaging, and the mechanism of action of two available pharmacologic therapies. Headache. 2017;57(1):109-125. doi:10.1111/head.12999
    1. Altamura C, Corbelli I, de Tommaso M, et al. Pathophysiological bases of comorbidity in migraine. Front Hum Neurosci. 2021;15:640574. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2021.640574

Publication types

Substances

Associated data