Clinical efficacy of frovatriptan:: Placebo-controlled studies

Objective.-To confirm the clinical efficacy of frovatriptan 2.5 mg. Background.-Frovatriptan is a new 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)(1B/1D) receptor agonist being developed for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura. Results from preclinical and clinical pharmacology studies showed frovatriptan to be a potent 5-HT1B receptor agonist with a long terminal elimination half-life (26 hours) and a broad therapeutic index. Design.-Three randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group trials, in a total of 2676 patients, were performed to confirm the clinical efficacy of frovatriptan 2.5 mg for the acute treatment of migraine. Results.-In all three studies, headache response 2 hours after frovatriptan dosing was significantly greater than that seen with placebo (P less than or equal to .001) with approximately a two-fold measure of effect over placebo for headache response at 2 and 4 hours postdosing. Time to headache response occurred within 1.5 hours in a substantial proportion of patients. The incidence of 24-hour headache recurrence with frovatriptan was low (10% to 25%). Frovatriptan therapy also was associated with a high degree of patient satisfaction. Conclusions.-Frovatriptan represents a consistently effective acute treatment for migraine and accompanying symptoms.