Patient satisfaction with rizatriptan versus other triptans: Direct head-to-head comparisons

This study summarises the impact of treatment with rizatriptan 10 mg versus other 5-HT1B/1D receptor agonists (triptans) on patient satisfaction with medication. Rizatriptan is a potent, selective 5-HT1B/1D receptor agonist s hown to be fast, effective and well tolerated in the acute treatment of mig raine. We investigated patients' overall satisfaction with treatment in stu dies in which direct comparisons with other triptans were made. Data from f ive double-blind, placebo-controlled trials in which rizatriptan 10 mg was compared with another triptan were included in the analysis. Rizatriptan 10 mg was compared with sumatriptan 100 mg in one parallel study (n=916), sum atriptan 50 mg in two crossover studies (n=1599), naratriptan 2.5 mg in one parallel study (n=502), and zolmitriptan 2.5 mg in one parallel study (n=7 01). Satisfaction was reported by patients on a seven-point scale ranging f rom 'completely satisfied, couldn't be better' to 'completely dissatisfied, couldn't be worse' at 2 hours after dosing. The percent of patients in the top two 'satisfied' categories (completely or very satisfied) were analyse d. More patients on rizatriptan 10 mg were completely or very satisfied com pared with sumatriptan 100 mg (33% vs 26%, p <0.05), sumatriptan 50 mg (40% vs 35%, p <0.05), naratriptan 2.5 mg (33% vs 19%, p <0.01), and zolmitript an 2.5 mg (38% vs 30%, p <0.05). In all five studies more patients treated with rizatriptan 10 mg or other triptans were completely or very satisfied with treatment than patients receiving placebo (p <0.001, except naratripta n vs placebo p=0.004). The results, combined with the superior efficacy pro file (fast, effective, well tolerated) of rizatriptan 10 mg, should enhance the treatment of migraine headache and lead to improved therapeutic interv ention in clinical practice.