Upcoming Treatments

11/9/2020

This week I began to research possible upcoming treatments for migraines and looked into the use of neuro-proteins and anti-bodies to reduce the occurrences and severity of Migraines. This type of therapeutic drug was introduced to me by Dr. Masrour, and this week I went looking for articles and trials that specifically described the drug and its uses in headache medicine. From my finding this week I further understood the classification system of Migraines and the differences between Chronic and Episodic Migraines as well as societal trends the conditions is presented with. Migraines are less likely to occur in the elderly, but are more prevalent in lower-income communities leading to differences in racial populations. I believe this could be a result of daily-stress levels each population faces, and the more triggers for migraines low-income communities are often exposed to.

The main idea I discovered this week was the introduction of first-class migraine medication. This new treatment involved blocking the calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor (CGRP) with CGRP monoclonal antibodies(mAbs). I also learned that many of these new preventive migraine medications approved by the FDA, generally involve blocking this receptor on the trigeminal nerve pathway. Although, this medications are generally taken orally, it is a therapeutic treatment in contrast to other oral migraines medications which are generally used to treat the acute symptoms of migraines. As I continue to research this topic, one idea that stuck out to me was the lack of diagnosis structure of migraines, I will look into this as a possible pathway for my original work.