Early Onset and Maintenance Effect of Galcanezumab in Japanese Patients with Episodic Migraine.

Purpose: This study aimed to extensively evaluate the onset and maintenance effect of galcanezumab compared with placebo for the prevention of episodic migraine in Japanese patients.

Patients And Methods: This was a post-hoc analysis of a Phase 2, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study conducted between December 2016 and January 2019 (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02959177). Patients aged between 18 and 65 years with episodic migraine were randomized to receive a monthly injection of galcanezumab (120 mg: N = 115, 240 mg: N = 114) or placebo (N = 230) for 6 months. Outcome measures included onset of effect at weekly and daily intervals-assessed by change from baseline in the number of migraine headache days and the proportion of patients with migraine headache-with galcanezumab versus placebo. To further confirm the onset and maintenance effect, the 50% response rate was also evaluated.

Results: The mean change from baseline in weekly migraine headache days was significantly reduced with galcanezumab (-0.97 days) compared with placebo (-0.10 days) at week 1 ( ≤ 0.0001), which was maintained at all subsequent weeks up to week 4 (all ≤ 0.0001 vs placebo). A significantly smaller proportion of galcanezumab-treated patients had migraine headache compared with placebo-treated patients at day 1 after the first injection (13.6% vs 31.4%, respectively; ≤ 0.0001), which was also maintained at all subsequent days during the first week after the first injection. Furthermore, the 50% response rate was significantly higher with galcanezumab compared with placebo from week 1 through month 6.

Conclusion: The onset of the migraine preventive effect of galcanezumab was rapid compared with placebo, starting from day 1 after the first injection in Japanese patients with episodic migraine. The effect was maintained during the first week and first month, and throughout 6 months of monthly injections of galcanezumab. Galcanezumab is a promising preventive treatment in Japanese patients with episodic migraine.