Efficacy and safety of rizatriptan versus standard care during long-term treatment for migraine

Rizatriptan is a novel, selective S-HT1B/1D receptor agonist with a rapid o nset of action after oral dosing for the acute treatment of migraine. We co nducted a long-term (up to 1 year), multicenter, randomized study in 1831 p atients treating more than 46 000 attacks to compare the efficacy and toler ability of rizatriptan 5 mg and 10 mg to standard care medications routinel y used for the acute treatment of migraine attacks. Both doses of rizatript an were highly effective, without evidence of tachyphylaxis. Rizatriptan 10 mg was consistently superior (p<0.05), both to the 5-mg dose and to standa rd care, in providing relief in 90% of attacks, with 50% pain-free by 2 hou rs after dosing. The most common dose-related adverse events were nausea, s omnolence, and asthenia/fatigue. Based on this large, multicenter, long-ter m trial, rizatriptan is an important new oral agent for the acute treatment of migraine.