Rizatriptan: A New Milestone in Migraine Treatment. Closing Remarks ∗

Although not a life-threatening disorder, migraine can destroy much of the activities and pleasure in life, disrupting families and professional careers. Thus, the treatment of migraine attacks deserves to be taken seriously although, in spite of its high prevalence and debilitating character, many patients do not seek medical assistance. This is most probably explained by the lack of response to usual therapies.

As mentioned throughout this symposium, the most important goals for migraine patients when treating an attack, are to get a rapid elimination of the pain and to regain the ability to function normally as soon as possible. Recent data from Spain show that less than 40% of patients obtain a good response to classical abortive antimigraine drugs, indicating the urgent need for the development of better antimigraine treatments.

From the clinical data that were presented during the meeting, it is possible to conclude that the therapeutic effect of rizatriptan 10 mg has a quick onset, noticeable as early as 30 min after intake. It has a high 2 h response rate in terms of headache relief (70%) and pain free (40%). Consistency studies have demonstrated that rizatriptan 10 mg produces headache relief at 2 h in 86% of at least two out of three attacks. Moreover, it is superior to currently recommended doses of the presently available triptans, both in terms of pain free at 2 h and in getting rid of functional disability as soon as possible.

In addition, from the clinical trial data after treating more than 40 000 migraine attacks, it is possible to conclude that rizatriptan 10 mg is a safe and well-tolerated compound with a very low discontinuation rate and no clinically relevant changes in blood pressure, heart rate or laboratory parameters.

The availability of two very practical formulations of the drug, the tablet and the wafer, allows patients to treat migraine attacks anytime and anywhere, and even without liquid. In conclusion, rizatriptan 10 mg is a very suitable drug for use in an out-patient setting for the effective management of acute migraine attacks.