Aimovig ™ (Erenumab-aooe)
Review & Summary of a New Migraine Preventative
Overview
Aimovig ™ was approved by the FDA on May 17, 2018 as a preventative migraine treatment. It belongs to a class of migraine medications called calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor (CGRP-R) antagonists. CGRP-R is believed to be a significant component of the pathogenesis of migraines, thus CGRP-R antagonists are felt to work by blocking the effect of the CGRP-R.

Research on Aimovig ™ (Erenumab-aooe) as a Migraine Preventative Therapy
Considerable research has been published confirming the efficacy of Aimovig ™ as a migraine preventative:
- The New England Journal of Medicine in 2017 published the result of a team lead by Dr. Peter Goadsby, which studied the response of a broad range of patients to Aimovig ™. They reported a significant improvement in the frequency of the migraines (> 50% improvement), as well as the average amount of medications used by patients(1).
- A research report by Stewart Tepper’s team published in The Lancet Neurology in 2017 found that the drug safely and significantly reduced the number of migraines the patients experienced each month(2).
- The value of Aimovig ™ as a migraine preventative was documented in a report by Dr. Dodick’s group in the British Medical Journal in 2017, as they found significant improvements in migraine frequency and medication use(3).

Clinical Use
Aimovig ™ is approved as a preventative medication for migraine treatment. It is dosed as a single monthly injection of 70 or 140 mg, as prescribed by the patient’s treating physician.
Aimovig ™ vs. The Reed Procedure ®
A Consideration of Migraine Treatment Options
Importantly, it is not a requirement that a patient first tries Aimovig prior to consideration of migraine surgery; rather, a patient may wish to consider its use prior to deciding upon more invasive options. If after a reasonable course of more conservative medication management a patient’s headaches remain severe and refractory, then we recommend evaluation for candidacy for The Reed Procedure ®.
References
- Goadsby PJ, Reuter U, Hallström Y, Broessner G, Bonner JH, Zhang F, et al. A controlled trial of erenumab for episodic migraine. N Engl J Med. 2017;377(22):2123-32.
- Tepper S, Ashina M, Reuter U, Brandes JL, Doležil D, Silberstein S, et al. Safety and efficacy of erenumab for preventive treatment of chronic migraine: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial. The Lancet Neurology. 2017;16(6):425-34
- Dodick D, Ashina M, Kudrow D, Lanteri-Minet M, Osipova V, Palmer K, et al. A phase 3, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of erenumab in migraine prevention: primary results of the arise trial. BMJ Publishing Group Ltd; 2017.
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