Open Access<p>Reducing Episodic Cluster Headaches: Focus on Galcanezumab</p>
Author(s) -
Lanfranco Pellesi,
Roberto De Icco,
Mohammad AlMahdi AlKaragholi,
Messoud Ashina
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of pain research
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 49
ISSN - 1178-7090
DOI - 10.2147/jpr.s222604
Subject(s) - medicine , headaches , cluster (spacecraft) , psychiatry , computer science , programming language
The involvement of calcitonin gene-related peptide in migraine and cluster headache has led to the recent development of new therapies. Galcanezumab, a novel monoclonal antibody targeting the calcitonin gene-related peptide, is approved for the migraine prevention and has recently been tested for the prevention of cluster headache. Two clinical trials have been conducted to investigate the efficacy and safety of galcanezumab in episodic cluster headache and chronic cluster headache. While efficacy endpoints were not met in the chronic subtype, galcanezumab reduced the weekly frequency of attacks in patients with episodic cluster headaches. In both studies, the antibody was well tolerated. This review summarizes and critically reviews the available data regarding the rationale behind targeting the calcitonin gene-related peptide with galcanezumab for the prevention of cluster headache.