The National Headache Foundation applauds the approval and release of Teva Pharmaceutical’s migraine preventive medication, Ajovy (fremenazumab), on Friday, September 14, 2018. This medication is the second in a new class of migraine preventers called CGRP monoclonal antibodies to be approved in 2018, with another one likely to follow in a few weeks. These new treatments are the first ever migraine specific medications aimed at preventing migraine attacks. Research shows them to have great potential at significantly improving the lives of patients and their families who care for them.
“The release of CGRP drugs are the greatest advance in the headache field since the release of sumatriptan in 1993,” said Dr. Vincent Martin, Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine; President of the National Headache Foundation since May 2016; and President of the Ohio Headache Association.
The NHF has anxiously awaited the release of Ajovy with hopes that many of the most impacted migraine patients will find new and better relief from their migraine syndromes through its use. Since its inception, the NHF has worked tirelessly and relentlessly to promote education, research, and advocacy programming designed to help deliver on its mission to rid the world of headache and restore patients to their much wanted places in life. We know without question that this new class of medication will go a long way to achieving this goal.
On behalf of the NHF staff, our board of directors and the thousands of patient constituents that we serve, we would like to congratulate the research sponsor and the many dedicated investigators who worked diligently to conduct the research leading to Ajovy’s approval. But most of all, we would like to express our gratitude to the true heroes of the moment: the thousands of patient volunteers who got involved and made a difference. Without their volunteerism, we would have no medications at all.
Timothy R Smith, MD, RPh
First Vice President
The National Headache Foundation