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F.D.A. Approves First Drug Designed to Prevent Migraines
The first medicine designed to prevent migraines was approved by the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday, ushering in what many experts believe will be a new era in treatment for people who suffer the most severe form of these headaches. The drug, Aimovig, made by Amgen and Novartis, is a monthly injection with a device similar to an insulin pen. The list price will be $6,900 a year, and Amgen said the drug will be available to patients within a week.
Aimovig blocks a protein fragment, CGRP, that instigates and perpetuates migraines. Three other companies — Lilly, Teva and Alder — have similar medicines in the final stages of study or awaiting F.D.A. approval. "The drugs will have a huge impact," said Dr. Amaal Starling, a neurologist and migraine specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix. "This is really an amazing time for my patient population and for general neurologists treating patients with migraine."
Millions of people experience severe migraines so often that they are disabled and in despair. These drugs do not prevent all migraine attacks, but can make them less severe and can reduce their frequency by 50 percent or more. As a recent editorial in the journal JAMA [DOI: 10.1001/jama.2018.4852] [DX] put it, they are "progress, but not a panacea."
Sticker shock? The price is 30% less than Wall Street expected. Meanwhile, people are self-administering psychedelics such as LSD or psilocybin to treat migraines and cluster headaches.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by sjames on Monday May 21 2018, @08:28PM (20 children)
We already have one. It costs about $50/dose and one dose lasts for 6 months to a year. But magic mushrooms are illegal and not patentable, so that's out, even though the effective dose for migraine is sub-hallucinogenic and we have years of safety data.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 21 2018, @08:51PM
If sold at cost or made at home, mushrooms should cost much less than that. It's easier to grow than weed.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 21 2018, @08:52PM (9 children)
Found another incel! And a druggie, too! There's no profit in selling shrooms. Only an incel would place the well-being of sick people over profits. Alphas understand profits and that's why they're alphas and you're an incel.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 21 2018, @09:05PM
Well at least you're branching out with your trolling. Angry kid is angry.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 21 2018, @09:58PM (7 children)
Am I an incel even if I have a sex doll?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 21 2018, @10:04PM (2 children)
Has the term "volcel" come into vogue yet, to distinguish between voluntary and involuntary celibates?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday May 21 2018, @10:52PM
Apparently, "volcel" [reddit.com] does exist, but I think it's probably better known under the umbrella of (men|man) going (their|his) own way [wikia.com], aka MGTOW or MGHOW. Although volcel and incel can encompass people of any gender.
The term "incel" is likely to inspire more ridicule, hate, self-loathing, etc., because of the obvious contradiction in what an incel wants and what they get, which could theoretically lead to frustration and violence. With two recent mass murder incidents being pinned on "incels", we could be hearing that term a lot more.
There's also "asexual", which is an orientation that may include having sex (that you aren't really into) according to this source [asexualityarchive.com].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 21 2018, @11:12PM
> Has the term "volcel" come into vogue yet
Doesn't the Catholic church have dibs on that concept (by other names)?
Not that every priest who takes the vow actually lives up to the vow...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 21 2018, @10:34PM (3 children)
Hmm... yes. Most definitely. In fact, even if you also have a flesh-and-blood lady friend, I'm certain the sex doll makes you an incel.
Though mostly I think the word incel is just the CIA setting the stage for a return to military conscription, which is why I picked somebody opposing transnational immortal corporation copyrights and here I pick out somebody opposing big pharma's collusion with the DEA to commoditize and profit off things that Mother Nature provides to us free of charge.
First there was #gamergate (and I should have noticed that there was something distinctly un-feminist about it... but came to the opposite conclusion instead). Then the misogynerd narrative. There was some whargarbl about homosexual men and furries being failed men, but not as a major narrative in the mainstream press. Now incels. The common pattern is the creation of classes of "failed men." This speaks more to male chauvinism than anything feminist.
Think also about She Lost. Hillary Clinton was the choice of the CIA. Then She Lost. Now there's #metoo, which targets all kinds of people who might speak up and use their position as artists/filmmakers/etc to oppose World War 3. Actually, of all those things, #metoo is the only thing remotely feminist, but that could be stopped watch effect.
Wait about another year or two or three or so, and I guarantee that conscription will be seriously discussed. The MIC will just handily have the solution to all these failed men. Send them to die in World War 3, and that will turn them into real men. Plenty of villages we need to burn in order to save.
Note also the real reason these "failed men" exist: it's the economy, stupid. Of course the CIA doesn't want anybody talking about that. We can focus on failed men instead. Blame the victim. There's just something wrong with them. Them--they're Others. So it's natural the CIA will be selling the solution. Service guarantees citizenship!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday May 21 2018, @11:10PM (2 children)
Conscription will not be seriously discussed without an equally serious discussion of conscripting women. Although you could imagine that women could be forced or coaxed into less demanding combat roles.
Will WW3 require conscription? Automation might make it unnecessary. I was going to write something about conscripting women into factories, but factory work is increasingly moving back to the U.S. because fewer workers are needed to run one (except the Musky One can't grok it [techcrunch.com]). On the war front we have drones being the most attractive weapon by far. You could see robots or mechs replacing "boots on the ground", but not within the next 1-3 years.
But the real question here is: what do you mean by WW3? If it's a nuclear conflict, you don't need to conscript anybody, and you don't have time to do so, because it would be decided in minutes or hours. What will cause a global nuclear conflict? North Korea? U.S. probably has some informal agreement with China where we get to burn NK to a crisp if they do a first strike on the South. India vs. Pakistan? Doubtful.
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(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday May 22 2018, @04:33AM (1 child)
What she means is trolololololol, that's what. That's probably Kurenai or one of her alts.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday May 22 2018, @05:06AM
I choose to respond to the content of the comment. Or at least a part of it.
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(Score: 1) by goathack on Monday May 21 2018, @09:31PM (6 children)
Psilocybin works for many. Problem with homegrown is getting the right dosage and the blood pressure spikes can be rather dangerous, especially as you age. Having another alternative is good.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday May 21 2018, @11:59PM (4 children)
It says a lot that our lawmakers have been fine with people suffering migraine and cluster headaches all these years rather than making exceptions to the war on some drugs. They're apparently fine with drugs costing over $6000/year rather than $50 just to keep the war going.
Considering that a sub hallucinogenic dose is effective for headaches and is only needed once or twice a year, I'm not so sure the blood pressure would be an issue. Particularly if taken under medical supervision. It's nice to have alternatives, but it's not so nice that only the new and expensive one is actually available legally. Especially since the new one doesn't work for all sufferers.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 22 2018, @05:21AM (1 child)
There have been effective and legal treatments for years. Honestly, I don't get why this is still an issue. Migraines respond well to hypnosis, riboflavin and therapy.
I used to get migraines most days. But since I learned a visualization exercise I've been effectively free of the debilitating effects for years. I probably still get them most days, but I don't really notice them any more.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday May 23 2018, @01:23AM
It's good that it worked for you, but it doesn't help a lot of others.
(Score: 1) by goathack on Tuesday May 22 2018, @04:48PM (1 child)
Blood pressure is an issue for me. And I have legal, pharmaceutical psilocybin (sumatripan) and it's cheap enough.. It's required far more often than once or twice a year to prevent my headaches, sometimes multiple times a week. Of course I live somewhere that drug costs aren't ridiculous and have proper coverage.
Triptans also not great for sufferers with mental illness, pregnant people, etc. even at hallucinogenic doses.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday May 22 2018, @05:12PM
Sumatriptan is NOT psilocybin
That's why the kids don't just down a handful and take a trip.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 22 2018, @12:16AM
Comparative potency of different species [erowid.org]
Almost all psilocybin mushrooms are P. cubensis, but there is some variation in potency from growing conditions. Grinding the caps and stems and loading them into empty pills can help to average out the potency. If the doses [erowid.org] used by migraine sufferers are going to be small or non-psychoactive, they can play around with the dose amount.
(Score: 1) by JustNiz on Tuesday May 22 2018, @01:39AM (1 child)
> $50/dose
There's your problem right there. The drug companies have too much to loose.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 22 2018, @07:48AM
Something that worked for me when I was still messing this up:
Where I wrote|typed words, I put a sticky note in easy sight.
It said: "Loose rhymes with moose; lose rhymes with clues."
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 21 2018, @08:40PM
I heard it was a headache to get it approved.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Monday May 21 2018, @08:48PM
Only took 200,000 years of evolution but man has finally solved the "not tonight, my head hurts" problem
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 3, Interesting) by frojack on Monday May 21 2018, @09:26PM
Watch the price crash as these follow on treatments complete their study and get approved.
With 5 companies in the market, any sustained high price will have investigators crawling all over their books.
You know somebody is going to under price the big boys and jockey for market position.
Also, wait for the lawsuits. Inevitable.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by inertnet on Monday May 21 2018, @09:46PM (5 children)
Vitamin B2 riboflavin may also help to prevent migraines, this is info from 2004 [nih.gov], but it's probably too cheap for this information to get noticed.
I sometimes have ocular migraines myself, which doesn't involve headaches but flashing lights in my peripheral vision.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 21 2018, @11:02PM (1 child)
Interesting. I have visual migraines that obscure my central vision most times, so I'm unable to read for a half hour to an hour when they happen. Very irritating when I'm trying to write some code.
Are you talking about these [wikipedia.org]? This image [wikipedia.org] is most like what I experience. Just looking at it gives me the willies.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Tuesday May 22 2018, @12:48AM
Yes similar to those, not pixels but very small black and white triangles. Always around the edge of my eyes, never in the center. The upper, outer quadrants mostly, which will grow if I don't take a rest for about half an hour. Doesn't happen often, I guess a couple of times a year.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday May 21 2018, @11:05PM
Well, migraines come in different varieties, and the summary did state that this was only for one of them.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 21 2018, @11:06PM (1 child)
I will let my friend know.
Oh he started laughing so hard he got another one. He has tried pretty much everything at this point (including the illegal shit). Nothing works.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 22 2018, @05:25AM
He should try therapy and hypnosis as well. Both of which are effective means of addressing migraines. But they do require some effort.
At this point, I can turn a migraine off in a matter of seconds.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 21 2018, @10:32PM (2 children)
Search on ginger and migraine and you'll find much info and a study supporting that ginger can be as effective as a dose of Sumatriptan in certain cases. My experience has been that the ginger severely dulls most migraines and has even stopped a few completely. As someone without medical insurance, this has been life changing...
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 22 2018, @08:13AM
Ginger is also commonly used to sooth an upset tummy.
Other medicinal qualities have been ascribed to it.
A little jar of powdered ginger will cost almost nothing and will stay potent for some time.
My green grocer puts ginger root on special often enough that, again, it costs almost nothing to keep some on hand.
There are plenty of foods that use it (ginger snap cookies, anyone?) and it can be used to make ginger tea.
Those who are ambitious (or find the pre-bottled stuff on store shelves too tame) can make their own ginger ale.
Some folks keep ginger around in the form of ginger candy.
I'm betting that any of these 3 forms is cheaper than getting it from a pill store.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @01:48AM
Magnesium has worked wonders for me.