A study published in The Journal of Headache and Pain demonstrated that fremanezumab (a fully humanized monoclonal antibody that selectively targets calcitonin gene-related peptide therapy) therapy can effectively reduce migraine days, headache days of at least moderate severity, and days of acute medication usage over twelve weeks of therapy in people aged ≥60 years with episodic migraine or chronic migraine.

Stephanie J. Nahas et al. examined the tolerability, safety, and efficacy of fremanezumab in 246 people aged ≥sixty years with chronic migraine or  episodic migraine. This pooled subgroup analysis incorporated data from three randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III studies: (a) HALO chronic migraine study, (b) HALO episodic migraine study, and (c) FOCUS study in people having migraine and previous unsatisfactory response to two-four migraine preventive medication classes.

People in all the studies were randomly assigned to receive twelve weeks of subcutaneous therapy with quarterly fremanezumab (Months one/two/three: episodic migraine/chronic migraine, 675 mg/placebo/placebo), monthly fremanezumab (Months one/two/three: episodic migraine, 225 mg/225 mg/225 mg; chronic migraine, 675 mg/225 mg/225 mg), or matched monthly placebo.

Compared to placebo- recipients, fremanezumab-recipients illustrated a considerably higher decline in monthly migraine days from baseline over twelve weeks, as shown in Table 1:

As early as week 1, a considerable decline from baseline in weekly migraine days were witnessed in fremanezumab-recipients in comparison with placebo-recipients.

Compared to placebo-treated people, a greater percentage of fremanezumab-treated people attained  ≥50% decline in the monthly migraine days and exhibited remarkable improvements in quality-of-life and disability outcomes. The percentage of people who had severe adverse events and adverse events leading to discontinuation were low and comparable in the placebo and fremanezumab groups.

The safety and efficacy outcomes were similar when compared to the overall pooled population (N = 2843). These findings may assist medical care providers with clinical decision making and preventive therapy selection for older people suffering from migraine.