Those who suffer from migraines are aware of the difficult treatment that these types of headaches present. Until now, medicine has alleviated this pain through oral medications whose effect was not immediate.
Pfizer, the company that has been making headlines in the press for months due to its vaccines against the Covid pandemic, claims to have discovered a medicine under the name of Defy what could relieve the pain of migraines in as little as 15 minutes.
The pharmaceutical company has also ensured that the product, a fast-acting nasal spraycould go on the market and be ready in pharmacies from July of this yearand the US Food and Drug Administration has just announced its approval.
Angela Hwang, commercial director of Pfizer, has explained in a statement. “FDA approval of Zavzpret brand a significant advance for people with migraine who need to be pain free and prefer alternative options to oral medications.
According to the company, a phase 3 study was carried out where they saw that the drug was able to relieve pain in some migraine patients. in a very short time. As Kathleen Mullin, associate medical director of the New England Institute for Neurology and Headache, explained to Pfizer: “As a nasal spray with rapid drug absorption, Zavpret offers an alternative treatment option for people who need pain relief“.
The drug study
According to the pharmaceutical giant, the studypublished in the magazine The Lancet Neurologywas tested double-blind in a sample of 1405 peoplehalf of them took a single dose of aerosol, and the rest received a placebo.
Looking at the results, they found that the spray significantly reduces pain. About 24% of people who took a single 10-milligram dose said they they had no pain two hours latercompared to 15% in the group that received a nasal spray without any active ingredients.
In contrast, the main side effect reported in the study was a altered sense of taste, which affected about 1 in 5 people who took the drug. Also, other side effects were nasal discomfort and nausea.