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Eletriptan

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Abstract

▴ Eletriptan is a new serotonin 5-HT1B/1D receptor agonist developed for the treatment of acute migraine attacks.

▴ The increased lipophilicity of eletriptan provides rapid absorption, and improved oral bioavailability over that of sumatriptan.

▴ In animal studies, eletriptan effectively decreased carotid anastomotic blood flow, but exhibited a lower potential than sumatriptan to constrict coronary and femoral blood flow in a canine assay of potential adverse cardiovascular effects.

▴ Eletriptan was effective in reducing migraine pain from severe or moderate to mild or none within 2 hours of administration of a single oral 40 or 80mg dose in a large, multicentre, double-blind placebo-controlled trial (n = 1151).

▴ In a double-blind, placebo-controlled comparative study, eletriptan (80mg, single oral dose) was significantly more effective than sumatriptan (100mg, single oral dose) in reducing headache pain at both 1 and 2 hours after administration (n = 692).

▴ Eletriptan is generally well tolerated. The most commonly reported adverse events were asthenia, somnolence, dizziness and nausea; these were typically mild and transient in nature.

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  1. Adis International Limited, 41 Centorian Drive, Private Bag 65901, Mairangi Bay, Auckland 10, New Zealand

    Anne Bardsley-Elliot & Stuart Noble

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  1. Anne Bardsley-Elliot
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  2. Stuart Noble
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Correspondence to Anne Bardsley-Elliot.

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Bardsley-Elliot, A., Noble, S. Eletriptan. Mol Diag Ther 12, 325–333 (1999). https://doi.org/10.2165/00023210-199912040-00006

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