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
. 2024 Oct;13(5):1203-1218.
doi: 10.1007/s40122-024-00626-1. Epub 2024 Jul 10.

Safety of Rimegepant in Adults with Migraine and Cardiovascular Risk Factors: Analysis of a Multicenter, Long-Term, Open-Label Study

Affiliations

Safety of Rimegepant in Adults with Migraine and Cardiovascular Risk Factors: Analysis of a Multicenter, Long-Term, Open-Label Study

David True et al. Pain Ther. 2024 Oct.

Abstract

Introduction: Cardiovascular (CV) risk factors can limit treatment options for migraine. Rimegepant is an orally administered small-molecule calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonist that does not induce vasoconstriction. The aim of these post hoc subgroup analyses was to assess the safety of rimegepant according to CV risk.

Methods: In a multicenter, long-term, open-label, phase II/III safety study, participants with a history of 2-14 migraine attacks per month of moderate or severe pain intensity self-administered rimegepant 75 mg, orally, to treat migraine up to once daily for up to 52 weeks. Uncontrolled, unstable, or recently diagnosed CV disease was part of the exclusion criteria. Safety was assessed across subgroups according to number of CV risk factors (0, 1, or ≥ 2) and Framingham Risk Score (< 10% or ≥ 10%).

Results: Of 1800 treated participants, 28.8% had one CV risk factor and 12.1% had ≥ 2 CV risk factors; 7.0% had Framingham Risk Score ≥ 10%. Across the subgroups with 0, 1, and ≥ 2 CV risk factors and Framingham Risk Score < 10% and ≥ 10%, respectively, proportions of participants reporting adverse events (AEs; 59.6%, 61.4%, 62.2%, 59.9%, 67.5%) and serious AEs (2.7%, 2.5%, 2.3%, 2.6%, 2.4%) were consistent, and AEs leading to study drug discontinuation were low (1.9%, 3.1%, 5.5%, 2.5%, 4.8%).

Conclusions: Rimegepant showed favorable safety and tolerability in adults with migraine and CV risk factors, including those with moderate to high CV risk.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03266588.

Keywords: Calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonists; Cardiovascular; Migraine; Rimegepant; Risk factors; Safety.

Plain language summary

Older patients with migraine often have cardiovascular (CV) disease – such as a prior heart attack – or risk factors for CV disease. Examples of CV risk factors are high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol, and a family history of heart disease. The choice of treatments for migraine is limited by safety concerns for patients who have CV risk factors. Newer treatments for migraine – including rimegepant – work differently than older drugs, by targeting calcitonin gene-related peptide. The safety of rimegepant for patients with migraine and CV risk factors can be studied in a clinical trial. In a long-term trial, patients with migraine took rimegepant tablets to treat migraine attacks, up to once a day, for up to 52 weeks. Some of the patients in the study had CV risk factors. We analyzed the results of the study by grouping the patients based on how many CV risk factors they had. We found that the side effects of rimegepant were similar across the groups. This showed that rimegepant was safe and well tolerated in adults with migraine and CV risk factors.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. David True has served as a principal investigator for headache trials for Allergan, AbbVie, electroCore, Eli Lilly, Teva, Theranica, Ionis, Avanir, Amgen, Aeon, Alder, Lundbeck, Axsome, Mayo Clinic, Nocira, Satsuma, Zosano, Tonix, and Pfizer. Kathleen Mullin serves as a consultant or advisory board member for or has received honoraria from Amgen, Biohaven, electroCore, and Eli Lilly. Robert Croop was an employee of Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, owns stock in Biohaven Ltd, was an employee of Pfizer, has received research payments from Pfizer, and provides services to Collima LLC, which has had consulting agreements with Pfizer, Actio Biosciences, Inc., Aptose Biosciences Inc., Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Manistee Therapeutics, and Vida Ventures Management Co., LLC.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Dodick DW, Shewale AS, Lipton RB, et al. Migraine patients with cardiovascular disease and contraindications: an analysis of real-world claims data. J Prim Care Commun Health. 2020;11:2150132720963680.10.1177/2150132720963680 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Adelborg K, Szepligeti SK, Holland-Bill L, et al. Migraine and risk of cardiovascular diseases: Danish population based matched cohort study. BMJ. 2018;360: k96. 10.1136/bmj.k96 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ng CYH, Tan BYQ, Teo YN, et al. Myocardial infarction, stroke and cardiovascular mortality among migraine patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Neurol. 2022;269:2346–58. 10.1007/s00415-021-10930-x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kalkman DN, Couturier EGM, El Bouziani A, et al. Migraine and cardiovascular disease: what cardiologists should know. Eur Heart J. 2023;44:2815–28. 10.1093/eurheartj/ehad363 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rist PM, Buring JE, Cook NR, Kurth T. Contribution of migraine to cardiovascular disease risk prediction. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2023;81:2246–54. 10.1016/j.jacc.2023.03.429 - DOI - PubMed

Associated data

LinkOut - more resources