Different dosage regimens of Eptinezumab for the treatment of migraine: a meta-analysis from randomized controlled trials

BACKGROUND: Migraine is one of the most common neurological diseases around the world and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) plays an important role in its pathophysiology. Therefore, in the present study, we evaluated the efficacy of monoclonal antibodies blocking the CGRP ligand or receptor in episodic and chronic migraine. OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study is implementing a meta-analysis to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of eptinezumab for the treatment of migraine compared with placebo. METHOD: We searched the Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library and Clinicaltrials.gov for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which were performed to evaluate eptinezumab versus placebo for migraine up to September 2020. The data was assessed by Review Manager 5.3 software. The risk ratio (RR) and standard mean difference (SMD) were analyzed using dichotomous outcomes and continuous outcomes respectively with a random effect model. RESULT: We collected 2739 patients from 4 RCTs: the primary endpoint of efficacy was the change from baseline to week 12 in mean monthly migraine days (MMDs). We found that eptinezumab (30 mg, 100 mg, 300 mg) led to a significant reduction in MMDs (P = 0.0001,P < 0.00001, P < 0.00001) during 12 weeks compared with placebo, especially with 300 mg. For the safety, we compared and concluded the treatment emergent adverse events (TEAEs) of the 4 RCTs. This indicated no evident statistical difference between eptinezumab and placebo. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, we found that eptinezumab is safe and has significant efficacy in the treatment of migraine, especially the dose of 300 mg. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s10194-021-01220-y.