The impact of fremanezumab on medication overuse in patients with chronic migraine: subgroup analysis of the HALO CM study

Background We evaluated the efficacy of fremanezumab, a fully humanized monoclonal antibody that selectively targets calcitonin gene-related peptide, in patients with chronic migraine (CM) with and without medication overuse (MO). Methods In a 12-week, phase 3 trial, patients with CM were randomized to fremanezumab quarterly (675 mg/placebo/placebo), monthly (675 mg/225 mg/225 mg), or placebo. Post hoc analyses assessed the impact of fremanezumab in patients with and without MO (monthly use of acute headache medication >= 15 days, migraine-specific acute medication >= 10 days, or combination medication >= 10 days) on efficacy outcomes, including headache days of at least moderate severity (HDs), and six-item Headache Impact Test (HIT-6) and Migraine-Specific Quality of Life (MSQoL) questionnaire scores. Results Of 1130 patients enrolled, 587 (51.9%) had baseline MO. Fremanezumab reduced placebo-adjusted least-squares mean (95% confidence interval) monthly HDs (- 2.2 [- 3.1 to - 1.2] and - 2.7 [- 3.7 to - 1.8];P < 0.0001) in patients with MO and without MO (quarterly - 1.4 [- 2.3 to - 0.5],P = 0.0026; monthly - 1.4 [- 2.3 to - 0.6],P = 0.0017). Significantly more fremanezumab-treated patients had >= 50% reduction in HDs versus placebo, regardless of baseline MO (with: quarterly 70/201 [34.8%], monthly 78/198 [39.4%] vs placebo 26/188 [13.8%]; without: quarterly 71/174 [40.8%], monthly 75/177 [42.4%] vs placebo 41/183 [22.4%]). Fremanezumab improved HIT-6 and MSQoL scores. Significantly more fremanezumab-treated patients reverted to no MO (quarterly 111/201 [55.2%], monthly 120/198 [60.6%]) versus placebo (87/188 [46.3%]). Conclusions Fremanezumab is effective for prevention of migraine in patients with CM, regardless of MO, and demonstrated a benefit over placebo in reducing MO.