The efficacy and safety of sumatriptan intranasal powder in adults with acute migraine

ABSTRACT

Introduction: There are multiple choices of agents for the acute management of migraine available. Patient-specific factors such as associated symptoms including nausea, vomiting, and gastroparesis are important considerations. Oral administration may often be the patient-preferred route of delivery because of comfort or convenience but when it is important to bypass gut absorption then either parenteral or intranasal administration may be appropriate delivery approaches. A new formulation of a low-dose sumatriptan intranasal powder administered via a novel breath-powered delivery device may be a viable option

Areas covered: Our search of the available literature pertaining to the topic of intranasal sumatriptan powder yielded pharmacokinetic studies and randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials (including The TARGET Study, The COMPASS study) published between 2010 and 2015.

Expert commentary: A new formulation of a low-dose sumatriptan intranasal powder administered via a novel breath-powered delivery device appears to be a safe and efficacious option for the acute management of a migraine ideally suited for this situation. It appears to have superior efficacy to sumatriptan 100 mg oral tablets with superior pain freedom by 15 minutes and pain relief over the initial 30 minutes post-dose.

KEYWORDS:

• Migraine
• sumatriptan
• intranasal powder
• breath powered delivery
• gastroparesis

Declaration of interest

F. Freitag discloses - speaker: Allergan, consultant: TEVA. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.