Telcagepant is an investigational migraine drug believed to block the transmission of pain signals leading to Migraines by constricting dilated blood vessels within the brain. Additionally, the combination of telcagepant with ibuprofen or acetaminophen is being shown to have even more promising results, as reported in Neurology Reviews (October 2010).
“Studies have shown that combining acute migraine treatments with different mechanisms of action can provide increased efficacy versus monotherapy”, stated Dr. David J. Hewitt, MD, Senior Director of Clinical Neuroscience at Merck Research Laboratories. This previous finding led to randomized controlled trial of 683 patients with migraine in four groups: telcagepant alone, telcagepant with ibuprofen, telcagepant with acetaminophen, and placebo.
The researchers found that “for pain freedom, the combination treatments were superior to placebo starting from one hour and up to 24 hours, while telcagepant alone was superior to placebo starting from 1.5 hours and up to 24 hours.”
However, previous research did show that telcagepant caused elevation of liver enzymes in a Phase II clinical trial when used as a migraine preventive. The Phase II trial was discontinued, and Merck is currently setting safety protocols investigating any safety issues when telcagepant is used as an abortive medication.
