Medications Approved for Preventing Migraine Headaches

Migraine is the third-most prevalent disease in the world and affects approximately 39 million individuals in the United States alone. Migraine occurs in nearly 1 in 7 individuals between 15 and 49 years of age and is 3 times more frequent in women than in men. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved 3 new humanized monoclonal antibodies that target calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP): erenumab, fremanezumab, and galcanezumab. The agents either bind to the CGRP receptor (erenumab) or bind to the CGRP ligand (fremanezumab and galcanezumab) and block its binding to the receptor.