Fifty-eight percent of adolescent patients treated with the nasal spray version if AstraZeneca’s migraine drug, Zomig (zolmitriptan), achieved a headache response after one hour, versus 43% of patients receiving placebo, according to new clinical trial data presented at the American Headache Society’s annual meeting.

Additional data from the 248-patient trial showed a 37% headache response after 15 minutes for Zomig Nasal Spray, versus 23% for placebo. In addition, patients receiving Zomig had a one-hour pain-free rate of almost 28%, compared with 10% with placebo.

Migraine is a type of headache that usually happens in episodes or “attacks”, which can last anywhere from four hours to as long as 72 hours. Migraine is common among adolescents, and it is estimated that up to 10% of adolescents in the US are affected by migraine and that up to 2.75 million school days are missed annually because of migraine attacks in children and adolescents. In fact, 20% of adults report onset of headaches prior to age ten and 5% all children and adolescents have suffered a migraine by the age of 15. “For so long, migraine treatment research in adolescents has been limited,” said Dr Paul Winner, co-director of the Palm Beach Headache Center. “This study is an important step in understanding adolescent response to migraine treatment.”

Zomig Nasal Spray was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration back in 2003 for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura in adults [[02/10/03e]]. The new data could provide a boost to the product, which AstraZeneca already says is the most prescribed drug in its class in Europe [[02/03/04g]]. The market for migraines is expected to be worth $5.6 billion in 2012 [[25/06/03f]]