Migraine treatment with rizatriptan and almotriptan: a crossover study

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Rizatriptan and almotriptan are established triptans for migraine treatment.
• Direct comparative studies between rizatriptan and almotriptan are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the real-world effectiveness of rizatriptan 10 mg versus almotriptan 12.5 mg for acute migraine treatment.
• To evaluate onset times for pain relief and pain freedom.

Main Methods:

• A substudy of a large, multicenter, open-label, crossover trial was conducted.
• Patients treated two migraine attacks sequentially with rizatriptan and almotriptan.
• Time to pain relief (PR) and pain freedom (PF) was measured using stopwatches.

Main Results:

• Rizatriptan showed significantly higher rates of PR within 2 hours (88.6% vs 73.4%, P = .007).
• Median time to PR was shorter with rizatriptan (45 min) versus almotriptan (60 min) (P = .002).
• Median time to PF was also significantly shorter with rizatriptan (100 min) versus almotriptan (135 min) (P = .004).

Conclusions:

• Rizatriptan 10 mg demonstrated significantly faster onset of pain relief and pain freedom compared to almotriptan 12.5 mg.
• Rizatriptan was associated with higher patient satisfaction and preference.