Preemptive Prophylaxis of Migraine

Abstract

A method of preventing the headache phase of migraine in a human comprises administration of a 5HT1 receptor agonist or administration of an over-the-counter or nonprescription drug to said human exhibiting prodrome symptoms of migraine. Suitably, the method comprises administration of a migraine headache phase-preventing effective amount of the 5HT1 or over-the-counter or nonprescription drug. There is disclosed a preemptive prophylaxis migraine method using the following cognitive tests: Simple Reaction Time; Running Memory Continuous Performance Task; Matching to Sample; Mathematical Processing Task; and interpreting the results as a percent of baseline indicator of need for prophylaxis.

Description

CROSS REFERENCES [0001] This application is a divisional of co-pending application Ser. No. 09 / 575,277, which application was, in turn, a continuation-in-part of co-pending application Ser. No. 09 / 185,310, filed 3 Nov. 1998, and a continuation-in-part of PCT Application No. PCT / US99 / 09414 filed 29 Apr. 1999 and which named the United States as a designated country.TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates generally to the medical field and, more particularly, to a method for predicting the onset of a migraine headache and to a preemptive prophylaxis of the migraine headache. The preemptive prophylaxis is directed to prevent or reduce the headache phase and / or disability of migraine in humans by the administration of drugs during the prodrome phase of migraine. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] A headache may be one of several different varieties, each of which has its own unique pain characteristics which differ dramatically. The types of headache includ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0045] In a second aspect, the invention provides a 5HT1 agonist for use in the manufacture of a medicament for administration to a human exhibiting prodrome symptoms of migraine in order to prevent the headache phase of migraine.

[0059] In another aspect, the invention provides a method of preventing the headache phase of migraine in a human comprising administration of an over-the-counter or nonprescription medicine to said human exhibiting prodrome symptoms of migraine.

[0060] In another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for preventing the headache phase of migraine in a human comprising administration of a Cox-2 inhibitor to said human exhibiting prodrome symptoms of migraine.

Problems solved by technology

Migraine is a particularly painful headache that recurs from time to time.

The pain is quite severe and often the person with migraine must stay in bed.

AMERGE® Tablets are not approved for the prophylactic therapy of migraine or for use in the management of hemiplegic or basilar migraine.

The above mentioned anti-migraine agents have not been approved for the prevention of migraine.

In fact, the current product label for each of these agents states that they are not intended for prophylactic therapy of migraine, e.g., AMERGE® (naratriptan hydrochloride) Tablets.

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