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Rimegepant orally disintegrating tablets in the acute treatment of migraine: a profile of their use

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Abstract

Rimegepant orally disintegrating tablets (ODT) for sublingual or oral use (Nurtec™ ODT) are a valuable option for the acute treatment of migraine ± aura in adults, especially those with contraindications, treatment failure, or tolerability issues with triptans. Rimegepant is a calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist, and is the first, and currently only, drug in this class available as an ODT formulation in the USA. A single sublingual dose of rimegepant ODT 75 mg provided freedom from pain, freedom from the most bothersome migraine symptoms (e.g., nausea, phonophobia, photophobia), and freedom from functional disability at 2-h post dose relative to placebo in adults with a migraine attack with pain of moderate or severe intensity ± aura. Beneficial effects on migraine were provided as early as 1-h post dose, and were sustained for 2–48 h. Rimegepant ODT was well tolerated, with a tolerability profile similar to that of placebo, with no reports of serious, cardiovascular, or hepatic adverse events in patients with migraine.

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Acknowledgements

The manuscript was reviewed by: E.P. Calandre, Instituto de Neurociencia, Centro de Investigaciones Biomedicas, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain; L. Edvinsson; Department of Internal Medicine, Lund University Hospital, Lund, Sweden; A. Zandi. SBU School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. During the peer review process, Biohaven, the marketing-authorization holder of rimegepant ODT, was also offered an opportunity to provide a scientific accuracy review of their data. Changes resulting from comments received were made on the basis of scientific and editorial merit.

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    Esther S. Kim & Katherine A. Lyseng-Williamson

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  1. Esther S. Kim
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Correspondence to Katherine A. Lyseng-Williamson.

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The preparation of this review was not supported by any external funding.

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E. Kim is a contracted employee of Adis International Ltd/Springer Nature, and declares no relevant conflicts of interest. K.A. Lyseng-Williamson is the Editor of Drugs & Therapy Perspectives, was not involved in any publishing decisions for this manuscript, and is a salaried employee of Adis International Limited/Springer Nature. She has no other conflicts of interest to declare. All authors contributed to the review and are responsible for the article content.

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For this Adis Drug Q&A can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13078187.

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Kim, E.S., Lyseng-Williamson, K.A. Rimegepant orally disintegrating tablets in the acute treatment of migraine: a profile of their use. Drugs Ther Perspect 36, 547–552 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40267-020-00790-2

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