Cardiovascular safety of new drugs for the acute and preventive treatment of migraine: gepants and ditans
*Correspondencia: Dra. Abigail Pérez Rodríguez. Hospital Nuestra Señora del Rosario. Departamento de Neurología. Calle del Príncipe de Vergara, 53. E-28006 Madrid.
E-mail: abigailperezrodri@gmail.com
Introduction: Migraine is a prevalent neurological condition characterised by disabling headache attacks. In recent decades, new drugs have been developed specifically for the acute and preventive treatment of migraine based on its pathophysiology. These include calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) antagonists (CGRP) (gepants) and selective serotoninergic 5-HT1F receptor agonists (ditans). CGRP is a neuropeptide released by trigeminal terminals that acts as a vasodilator, causes neurogenic inflammation and thus generates pain and sensitisation in migraine. It also has a powerful vasodilatory action and is involved in cardiovascular regulation, which is why numerous studies are under way to assess the vascular safety of acting against CGRP. The high selectivity of ditans for the serotoninergic 5-HT1F receptor with a low affinity for other serotoninergic receptors seems to translate into little or no vasoconstrictor effect, which is mediated by the activation of 5-HT1B receptors.
Development: The aim of our study is to review the cardiovascular safety demonstrated by these new drugs for the treatment of migraine by analysing the evidence published to date. We conducted a literature search in the PubMed database and a review of clinical trials published at clinicaltrial.gov. We included literature reviews, meta-analyses and clinical trials in English and Spanish. We analysed reported cardiovascular adverse effects.
Conclusions: Based on the results published to date, we can conclude that the cardiovascular safety profile of these new treatments is favourable. Longer-term safety studies are needed to confirm these results.
Desarrollo Nuestro objetivo es revisar la seguridad cardiovascular demostrada por estos nuevos fármacos para el tratamiento de la migraña analizando la evidencia publicada. Realizamos una búsqueda bibliográfica en la base de datos PubMed y una revisión de los ensayos clínicos publicados en clinicaltrial.gov. Incluimos revisiones bibliográficas, metaanálisis y ensayos clínicos en español e inglés. Analizamos los efectos adversos cardiovasculares informados.
Conclusiones Basándonos en los resultados hasta ahora publicados, podemos concluir que el perfil de seguridad cardiovascular de estos nuevos tratamientos es favorable. Para confirmar estos resultados son necesarios estudios de seguridad a más largo plazo.