Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register
Clusterheadaches.com
 
Search box updated Dec 3, 2011... Search ch.com with Google!
  HomeHelpSearchLoginRegisterEvent CalendarBirthday List  
 





Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print
New CH injection to abort CHs (and migraines) (Read 3544 times)
Mike NZ
CH.com Hall of Famer
*****
Offline


Oxygen rocks! D3 too!


Posts: 3785
Auckland, New Zealand
Gender: male
New CH injection to abort CHs (and migraines)
Dec 14th, 2017 at 3:34pm
 
Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to Login or Register

The press release is a bit short on detail.

Quote:
London, 13 December 2017 – Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (Hikma, Group) (LSE: HIK) (NASDAQ Dubai: HIK) (OTC: HKMPY) (rated Ba1 Moody’s / BB+ S&P, both stable) announces that its wholly-owned US subsidiary West-Ward Pharmaceuticals Corp. (West-Ward), has launched Dihydroergotamine Mesylate Injection, USP, 1mg/mL.

West-Ward’s Dihydroergotamine Mesylate Injection, USP is indicated for the acute treatment of migraine headaches with or without aura and the acute treatment of cluster headache episodes.

According to IMS Health, US sales of Dihydroergotamine Mesylate Injection, USP were approximately $34.8 million in the 12 months ending October 2017.

Riad Mechlaoui, Chief Executive Officer of Injectables said, “We are pleased to be adding Dihydroergotamine Mesylate Injection, USP to our Injectables portfolio in the US. We have a large portfolio of products and a pipeline of differentiated products to support future growth.”


Most of the press release is about potential side effects.

Reading between the lines, this looks like it is intended to be used just like you would use an imitrex injection to about a CH or migraine, with the side effects suggesting that the mechanism of action includes vasoconstriction or that is a side effect, hence all the warnings about not using it if you've got heart problems.

It is great to see yet another treatment option being available.
Back to top
  
 
IP Logged
 
AussieBrian
CH.com Hall of Famer
*****
Offline


CH - It's all in your
head!


Posts: 3851
Cairns, Qld, Australia
Gender: male
Re: New CH injection to abort CHs (and migraines)
Reply #1 - Dec 15th, 2017 at 4:26am
 
It goes back a long, long time but I used to get quite a lot of help from the ergotomines, mostly as a preventive but I was starting to wonder about them as a possible abortive as well.

This was until a neurologist chose to overdose me terribly on them and that's a road I could never recommend to any fellow ClusterHead.

I'd really like to see more about this because any little advance in medical science can be a massive step forward for people like us.

Onya, Mike.  That was well spotted and thanks for passing it on.





Back to top
  

My name is Brian. I'm a ClusterHead and I'm here to help. Email me anytime at briandinkum@yahoo.com
 
IP Logged
 
Genever
CH.com Newbie
*
Offline


I Love CH.com!


Posts: 14
Re: New CH injection to abort CHs (and migraines)
Reply #2 - Dec 18th, 2017 at 7:27pm
 
I just saw a new doctor today and she mentioned that a new injectable drug will be coming out April or May of 2018. I’m not sure if it’s the one in this press release. She said it would be a once monthly injection. Intriguing, to say the least.
Back to top
  
 
IP Logged
 
Mike NZ
CH.com Hall of Famer
*****
Offline


Oxygen rocks! D3 too!


Posts: 3785
Auckland, New Zealand
Gender: male
Re: New CH injection to abort CHs (and migraines)
Reply #3 - Dec 19th, 2017 at 2:01am
 
Genever wrote on Dec 18th, 2017 at 7:27pm:
I just saw a new doctor today and she mentioned that a new injectable drug will be coming out April or May of 2018. I’m not sure if it’s the one in this press release. She said it would be a once monthly injection. Intriguing, to say the least.


There are some monoclonal antibody injections going through clinical trials which inhibit CGRP.

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to Login or Register

It is likely that this is what your GP is talking about since at least one is administered as a monthly injection.

What is great is that there is research being done and the result is that there are more treatment options available. Time will tell for each just how effective they are, along with the actual costs, side effects, etc.
Back to top
  
 
IP Logged
 
Mike NZ
CH.com Hall of Famer
*****
Offline


Oxygen rocks! D3 too!


Posts: 3785
Auckland, New Zealand
Gender: male
Re: New CH injection to abort CHs (and migraines)
Reply #4 - Dec 19th, 2017 at 8:02pm
 
Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to Login or Register

It looks like the monoclonal antibody CGRP inhibitor is in the process of being licenced for use with migraine.
Back to top
  
 
IP Logged
 
jon019
CH.com Alumnus
***
Offline


"Ya gotta believe!"


Posts: 1656
USA
Gender: male
Re: New CH injection to abort CHs (and migraines)
Reply #5 - Dec 20th, 2017 at 7:28pm
 
....to follow up on Mike's always informative posts...there is another monoclonal being researched...besides fremanezumab ....maybe already mentioned tho I could not find:

name of: erenumab

comes from an article on WebMD.....this is supposedly the link...doesn't look right...but I used to smell fish for a living...technology stopped at the end of my nose.....

Best

Jon



Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to Login or Register
Back to top
  

The LARGE print giveth....and the small print taketh away.    Tom Waits
 
IP Logged
 
Mike NZ
CH.com Hall of Famer
*****
Offline


Oxygen rocks! D3 too!


Posts: 3785
Auckland, New Zealand
Gender: male
Re: New CH injection to abort CHs (and migraines)
Reply #6 - Dec 21st, 2017 at 12:36am
 
I'm not quite sure how many of these monoclonal antibody injections are being developed as it there are multiple announcements from multiple organizations which confuse things.

From Jon's point, this is well illustrated by the following text from his link:

Quote:
It's not exactly clear how the drugs help disrupt migraines, but CGRP is known to be involved with the way nerves control pain and with blood vessel activity. Both nerves and blood vessels are involved in migraines.


I think translating this to English is something like - We don't know how migraines really work (or any other headache) but we know that CGRP is involved and when we do something to mess up how CGRP works there seems to be an improvement for some people some of the time.

The other thing I love about clinical trials is that even people taking the placebo showed an improvement:
Quote:
The average number of migraine days dropped by 1.8 days for people taking the placebo.


With the real medication only doing about twice as good as the placebo (i.e. no real medication).

It is incredible how well placebos work, which is down to psychology, which shows things like larger pills work better than smaller pills, coloured pills work better than white pills and lots more.

And from later in the trial:
Quote:
Among those who got only the initial injection, 38 percent reduced their average number of headaches by at least half. By comparison, 41 percent of those who got a monthly injection also cut their headache days by at least half, as did 18 percent of those in the placebo group.


This placebo works so well that again it is almost half as good as the real medication.

It's also surprising that doing monthly injections is only 3% better than a one off, which seems to be an incredibly small improvement, so I suspect that there are other things at play here (wish I knew the answer!).

What is good is the low risk of side effects (although this seems to potentially by limited to adult brains):
Quote:
Each of the drugs tested in the two trials appeared to have a low risk of side effects, the studies found.


However it looks like this isn't a cheap option:
Quote:
"These drugs are likely to be priced at a high point, and while insurance companies will likely cover them, they may require patients to have tried and failed at other therapies first"


Nice find of the article Jon.
Back to top
« Last Edit: Dec 21st, 2017 at 12:37am by Mike NZ »  
 
IP Logged
 
jon019
CH.com Alumnus
***
Offline


"Ya gotta believe!"


Posts: 1656
USA
Gender: male
Re: New CH injection to abort CHs (and migraines)
Reply #7 - Dec 21st, 2017 at 2:02am
 
Placebo....fascinating subject!!!

My brother was a drug researcher....in his biz <33% placebo success was FAILURE....he claims at least 40% was expected.................

Seems over the yrs...in the minimal research devoted to CH...placebo was NOT part of the trial. They didn't want folks to suffer w/o potential relief from the "real" thing. No official info on this...that's what I thought I've seen...dunno....

On little more personal note....been involved with a clinical trial of chemotherapy agents. It was made quite CLEAR..... ahead of time (and, btw, my own requirement).... that NO placebo would be involved. Treatment A or Treatment B...let's see what happens. Goin' on 3 yrs now....B worked....

Best

Jon
Back to top
  

The LARGE print giveth....and the small print taketh away.    Tom Waits
 
IP Logged
 
Mike NZ
CH.com Hall of Famer
*****
Offline


Oxygen rocks! D3 too!


Posts: 3785
Auckland, New Zealand
Gender: male
Re: New CH injection to abort CHs (and migraines)
Reply #8 - Dec 21st, 2017 at 3:26pm
 
Jon - Does your brother have any recommended reading on placebo as it is such an incredibly fascinating subject? It shows how for just about any medical trial the body can heal itself based on it thinking that it will. Perhaps this is an indication of the power of positive thought?

Now most of the time the patient must not know they have been given a placebo for it to work. However for another medical issue I have, I was shown how to use mirror therapy, where you put a mirror between your feet so you don't see the injured foot, but you watch the reflection of your good foot. All the time you know it is a reflection, but at the subconscious level your brain doesn't know it is a reflection and it changes the pain sensitivity to match what it sees in the reflection.

Quote:
Seems over the yrs...in the minimal research devoted to CH...placebo was NOT part of the trial. They didn't want folks to suffer w/o potential relief from the "real" thing. No official info on this...that's what I thought I've seen...dunno....


This will be down to the ethics approval that must happen with any clinical trial. Given the level of pain associated with CH, it will not be considered ethical to deliberately expose CH patients to a placebo. The same will no doubt apply to other situations, like you getting treatment A or B too.

Who knows if it was treatment B that did its magic or the placebo effect (if treatment B didn't actually help) or some combination. What matters is that the combination did amazing things for you.
Back to top
  
 
IP Logged
 
jon019
CH.com Alumnus
***
Offline


"Ya gotta believe!"


Posts: 1656
USA
Gender: male
Re: New CH injection to abort CHs (and migraines)
Reply #9 - Dec 21st, 2017 at 4:16pm
 
Jon - Does your brother have any recommended reading on placebo as it is such an incredibly fascinating subject? It shows how for just about any medical trial the body can heal itself based on it thinking that it will. Perhaps this is an indication of the power of positive thought?

I'll ask...he's at the in-laws playing poker over the holidays...so he usually ignores me for a while.



Now most of the time the patient must not know they have been given a placebo for it to work. However for another medical issue I have, I was shown how to use mirror therapy, where you put a mirror between your feet so you don't see the injured foot, but you watch the reflection of your good foot. All the time you know it is a reflection, but at the subconscious level your brain doesn't know it is a reflection and it changes the pain sensitivity to match what it sees in the reflection.

Like we both said...FASCINATING! I've never heard of this but it makes sense. Have always personally believed in 'placebo"...and really don't care how or if a drug works if my results are positive.....



Quote:

This will be down to the ethics approval that must happen with any clinical trial. Given the level of pain associated with CH, it will not be considered ethical to deliberately expose CH patients to a placebo. The same will no doubt apply to other situations, like you getting treatment A or B too.

Yup...that makes sense too..........


Who knows if it was treatment B that did its magic or the placebo effect (if treatment B didn't actually help) or some combination. What matters is that the combination did amazing things for you.

Was just into the cancer center for what I call my 6 month (used to be 3...hooray) lube and oil change.  Treatment A was the "new and improved" (a modified version of Thalidomide...image that) which I was sorely disappointed NOT to get...sides of the trial being picked totally randomly. Treatment B was a slightly modified version of "old school". Spoke with the clinical study coordinator who was delighted to report that of dozens of patients, ONLY 1 has relapsed 30 months post treatment. Meaning...it didn't matter which side I was on for initial treatment.  NOT to say both are equal.... as long term side effects (of which I have several) are critical to the evaluation of the study. They follow participants for 10 yrs....I hope to make it that long so they can be delighted again...even though they told me relapse was inevitable.

Best

Jon


Edited for appearance.....and to add that part of the chemo involved a monoclonal antibody (different from those discussed in thread). SInce...perhaps coincidently my CH is mostly shadows and a rare hit. But then...maybe I've FINALLY aged out...................
Back to top
« Last Edit: Dec 21st, 2017 at 6:57pm by jon019 »  

The LARGE print giveth....and the small print taketh away.    Tom Waits
 
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print

DISCLAIMER: All information contained on this web site is for informational purposes only.  It is in no way intended to be used as a replacement for professional medical treatment.   clusterheadaches.com makes no claims as to the scientific/clinical validity of the information on this site OR to that of the information linked to from this site.  All information taken from the internet should be discussed with a medical professional!