Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 9, 2025
3D-Neuronavigation In Vivo Through a Patient's Brain During a Spontaneous Migraine Headache
Published on: June 2, 2014
Real-World Experience of Erenumab in Patients with Migraine in Germany: The SPECTRE Study
Charly Gaul1, Astrid Gendolla2, Dagny Holle3
1Headache Center Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany. c.gaul@kopfschmerz-frankfurt.de.
Introduction:
To provide real-world insights into migraine patient population in Germany treated with erenumab, focusing on the prescription patterns and reasons for the initial dosage choice.
Methods:
SPECTRE was an observational, non-interventional, multicenter, open-label, single-arm study in patients treated with erenumab according to approved local dose and guidelines. The study enrolled adult patients (n = 571; Germany: 105 sites) with migraine who had received erenumab for not more than 3 months before the start of the study.
Results:
The mean (standard deviation) patient age was 45.0 (12.3) years, and most patients were female (89.0%), Caucasian (97.6%), and non-smokers (85.1%). The starting dose of erenumab was 70 mg in 68.5% of patients and 140 mg in 31.5%. The proportion of patients with 140 mg as the starting dose was the highest (43.5%) in those aged 30-40 years. The most common reason for starting a higher dose of erenumab 140 mg was severity of migraine (47.4%). During the observational period, the proportion of patients taking erenumab 140 mg increased to 64.6% (visit 5; V5) after 12 months. Due to attrition of patients towards the end of the study (V9: 90 participants), data at V9 must be interpreted with caution. At least one dose change was performed in 45.3% of patients (i.e., erenumab 70 to 140 mg or 140 to 70 mg), 21.2% of patients attempted at least once to discontinue treatment (i.e., period with erenumab discontinuation and no other antibody treatment for migraine prevention), and 15.3% discontinued erenumab treatment, mainly because of no or insufficient treatment response (13.5%). The mean time until the first omission attempt was 332.3 (range 37-633) days. Constipation (12.1%) was the most frequently reported adverse event, in line with the summary of product characteristics (SmPC) of erenumab.
Conclusion:
Most patients with migraine were prescribed erenumab 70 mg as the starting dose. No new safety signals were observed for erenumab versus the previous trials.
