DR. Jesus Romero Imbroda. Neurologist: “Migraine is a disease for which there is no cure, but there is treatment”

Migraine is a neurological disease that affects more than 1,000 million people worldwide, 1.4 million of them in Spain, with a prevalence of 12 percent and predominantly in women, as 80 percent of patients are women between 20 and 30 years of age. This is a pathology that leads to severe consequences, the second cause of disability in the world and the first among women aged 15 to 49 years.

Just as many patients thought the battle was lost, pharmaceutical company Pfizer has just announced that its oral migraine drug Vydura, designed to prevent and treat attacks in adults, is now available in Spain. Rimegepant is approved for the treatment of acute migraine with or without aura and for the treatment of episodic migraine in patients who experience at least four migraine attacks per month. While the announcement of a migraine cure brings relief to many migraine sufferers, it also raises questions about it.

Lighthouse He wanted to ask these doubts to one of the most prestigious neurologists in Spain, also from Melilla, Dr. Jesus Romero Imbroda, head of the neurology service at the Quironsalud Hospital in Malaga. “There has been some media hype since the approval of Vydura Rimegepant, but we must differentiate between an innovative drug based on its brand name and another based on its active ingredient. Vydura, a drug from Pfizer, is one thing, and the active ingredient Rimegepant, which is entering the free market after 10 years from its launch, is another. This way, any laboratory can have access to the formula. This is why there are many ibuprofen medications available, which can come in many different brands. So, an innovative drug is the brand of the commercial company that develops it, the research process, clinical trials, and then the active substance – the medicine itself. I wanted to clarify this.”

“What’s new is that this is the first oral drug for the treatment and prevention of migraine with a fairly new mechanism of action that we have been using for some time. The novelty here is that it is oral and the mechanism of action is that it inhibits or blocks a signal that is involved in the migraine trigger, namely calcitonin gene-related peptide. In recent years, we have learned that by blocking the activity that is cascaded through the intervention of this protein, we can block the symptoms associated with migraines, that is, the sensation of severe, disabling pain with nausea, vomiting, which can limit performance. , social or family activities. Migraine is not only a pain but also a disease, one of the most common diseases in existence, a disease that can be very episodic, with mild attacks or with very frequent, severe and disabling attacks.”

“Migraine can occur at any time in life, from childhood to adulthood, but it is more common in women in their 20s and 30s due to a number of hormonal and lifestyle factors that can influence the frequency and unwanted crisis.” “Migraine is treatable, it is a disease for which there is no cure, but there is treatment to block the duration of attacks and prevent them. To do this, we note that this mechanism of action by blocking the protein associated with the calcitonin gene has already been used parenterally, through a needle, by subcutaneous or even intravenous injection in drugs approved in recent years that have demonstrated greater effectiveness, i.e. in this case, the new drug is oral, but it not only blocks or suppresses this crisis, but also prevents the occurrence of others, and for this, according to clinical trials or how the drug is approved, it should be taken every other day and not more than one drug per day day, one drug per crisis, and the results are very encouraging. Anything that helps improve the quality of life of migraine patients so that they have fewer hours of suffering per month due to the condition is very good news. It has been approved, but now it has to get into pharmacies and, sometimes a little bit in these media scenarios, as it is asked to be prescribed so that it is available, but, well, the Spanish Medicines Agency has approved it, they are funding drugs from the national health system, which have indeed demonstrated effectiveness, and at the moment we are faced with very good news, because we have another tool that can be included in the therapeutic arsenal of migraine treatment, and this, of course, is welcomed by patients, neurologists, the media, medicine in in general.”

Migraine and diet

“When it comes to migraines and food, there is a percentage of migraines that can be triggered by certain foods. For example, cheeses, sausages, nuts, chocolate, alcohol, this does not mean that these products should be prohibited for all migraine patients, it means that it is necessary to identify any provoking factor, which in some cases we can influence, but in others we cannot Can. influence. We cannot influence seasonal changes or weather changes. Yes, we can influence diet, lifestyle, sleeping hours, avoiding toxic habits and always recommend a healthy lifestyle to migraine sufferers, including good exercise and generally leading a healthy lifestyle.