Advances in drug development for acute migraine.

Triptans revolutionized medical recognition and the acute treatment of migraine. Yet, throughout a lifetime, millions of patients who live with migraine endure hundreds of days of disability due to their disease. Most migraine attacks respond to migraine-specific interventions, but attack response does not predict patient response. Generally, migraine patients respond to acute treatment for some, but not necessarily all, attacks of migraine. Consequently, there remains a substantial unmet clinical need for better acute treatment of migraine. Numerous avenues of research and clinical observation provide insight into potential advances in acute treatment of migraine. These include better delivery systems for existing drugs, as well as the development of potential new therapeutic agents. In addition, new changes in migraine taxonomy and clinical observations of migraine suggest additional important therapeutic opportunities. Based on clinical observations, this article explores future acute treatment needs, drugs in development for acute migraine, and new products that deliver established drugs to improve treatment response.