Key Points
Triptan class of drugs are more effective in treating migraine headaches, compared to newer and more expensive drugs, an analysis of nearly 140 clinical trials, involving about 90,000 participants, has suggested...
The analysis, published in The British Medical Journal, showed that eletriptan, rizatriptan, sumatriptan, and zolmitriptan were better in relieving pain than the relatively recently developed drugslasmiditan, rimegepant, and ubrogepant..
While some of the triptan class of drugs have been studied to lower menstrual migraines too, which can be more severe and last longer than non-menstrual migraines, women should be cautious and avoid overuse, according to the American Migraine Foundation...
The authors called for an improved access to triptan drugs worldwide by including them into the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, along with updating international clinical guidelines for diagnosing and managing migraines...
When the active interventions (drugs) were compared with each other, eletriptan was superior to almost all the other drugs for achieving pain freedom at two hours, followed by rizatriptan, sumatriptan, and zolmitriptan, the authors wrote.. Further, among the triptan drugs, eletriptan was found to be the most effective in bringing about a sustained freedom from pain for up to 24 hours...
