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Botox for chronic migraine
16 July 2010
The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the use of Allergan’s neurotoxin Botox as a preventive treatment for chronic migraine.
The anti-wrinkle botulinum toxin type A is now licensed there for use in adults who have headaches for at least 15 days per month with migraine on at least eight of these days.
A report in
Pharma Times, UK, says the approval is based on PREEMPT clinical trial which showed nearly 70% of patients treated with Botox experienced a 50% reduction in migraine days, as well as a significant improvement in quality of life and headache-related disability scores compared with those given a placebo.
The treatment was also found to be generally well-tolerated in the study, with the majority of side effects mild to moderate and discontinuation rates low in both treatment arms - 3.8% in the patients receiving Botox and 1.2% in those given a placebo.
Andy Dowson, chairman of the Migraine Action UK’s medical advisory board, is quoted as saying while he has been using Botox “off-label” for migraine prevention for 10 years, it is important clinicians now have the PREEMPT study results to confirm the impression from this clinical practice experience.
“Botox will give many chronic migraineurs a new lease of life where individuals will be able to make more plans and not be so debilitated by their condition,” Lee Tomkins, director at Migraine Action, UK is also quoted as saying.
Botox is already a huge seller, largely due to its cosmetic use but also for other medical conditions such as excessive sweating. Its official approval for use in chronic migraine should further boost its sales in the UK, while potentially increasing its off label use elsewhere.
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