|
An extensive review article recently posted to the online medical journal Medscape General Medicine discusses numerous pharmaceutical drugs that are currently used in conventional therapy or are being developed for the prevention or treatment of migraine headaches. The 5,886-word article also mentions recently published clinical trials on a special extract of butterbur root (Petadolex® extract of Petasites hybridus, manufactured by Weber & Weber in Germany and imported by Weber & Weber, Windermere, FL) as one of the few available migraine treatments with clinically proven effectiveness.1 Authors of the article “Emerging Drugs for Migraine Prophylaxis and Treatment” cited findings from 2 clinical trials of the special butterbur root extract, demonstrating the extract’s significant efficacy in the prevention of migraines with no reported adverse side-effects.2,3
According to the article, many existing medications for migraines are not particularly effective, and the need for new or existing medications with preventative efficacy is relatively great. Migraines affect 12% of the adult population in western countries, and the pain they generate is frequently disabling. Eight other treatments for migraines were also profiled in the article for their efficacy, all of which were conventional pharmaceuticals. Interestingly, the article gave no mention to feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) preparations, which have demonstrated efficacy in migraine prevention through numerous clinical trials.4,5 However, feverfew may not have qualified for profiling under the authors’ definition of a “new” development in migraine treatment, and feverfew was not mentioned in the articles’s Background sections of existing treatment methods or currently available options.
The paper was sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Merck.
The full article can be accessed at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/528452_1.
References
1. Bigal M, Krymchantowski A. Emerging drugs for migraine prophylaxis and treatment. Medscape General Medicine. 2006;8(2):31.
2. Grossmann M, Schmidramsl H. An extract of Petasites hybridus is effective in the prophylaxis of migraine. Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2000;38:430-435.
3. Lipton RB, Gobel H, Wilks K, Mauskop A. Efficacy of petasites (an extract from Petasites rhizone) 50 and 75 mg for prophylaxis of migraine: results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study (abstract). Neurology. 2002;58:A472.
4. Awang DVC. Supercritical CO2 extract of feverfew leaf effective for migraine. HerbalGram. 2006;70:32-33.
5. Feverfew. In: Blumenthal M, Brinckmann J, Wollschlaeger B, et al. The ABC Clinical Guide to Herbs. Austin, TX: American Botanical Council, 2003.
|