Calcitonin gene-related peptide monoclonal antibody for preventive treatment of episodic migraine: A meta analysis

•The first meta analysis assesses CGRP mAbs for episodic migraine treatment.•CGRP mAbs could reduce the monthly migraine days significantly.•CGRP mAbs were safety and well tolerated which admitted for further study.

Calcitonin gene-related peptide monoclonal antibodies (CGRP mAbs) have shown promise in the preventive treatment of migraine. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of CGRP mAbs for preventive treatment of migraine. Database including Ovid-SP, Cochrane Library, Pubmed and Web of Science (ISI) were systematically searched up to April 2, 2016 for randomized controlled trials(RCTs) which were dealing with the efficacy and safety of CGRP mAbs for preventive treatment of episodic migraine. Cochrane collaboration's tool for assessing risk of bias was utilized for evaluating the bias and quality of RCTs. The data was analyzed by reviewer manager 5.2. Totally, 4 literatures matched the inclusion criteria, including 4 independent RCTs and 1198 patients. Among mentioned above, AMG334 is a monoclonal antibody against CGRP receptor, but ALD403, LY2951742 and TEV-48125 are monoclonal antibody against CGRP. We found that 7 mg and 21 mg AMG334 couldn't reduce the monthly migraine days from baseline to week 1-4/9-12. But 70 mg AMG334 could reduce the monthly migraine days from baseline to week 9-12 (MD = −1.1, 95% CI = [−2.1,−0.2]; P = 0.021) significantly, as compared with placebo. Meanwhile, after pooled estimate the efficacy of CGRP mAb against CGRP, we found that CGRP mAbs improved the decrease of monthly migraine days from baseline to week 1-4, as compared with placebo (WMD = 1.62, 95% CI = [1.09,2.14], I2 = 0%, P < 0.00001). And CGRP mAbs improved the decrease of monthly migraine days from baseline to week 9-12, no matter in single dose subgroup (WMD = 1.83, 95%CI = [0.06,3.60], I2 = 69%,P = 0.04) or in multiple doses subgroup (WMD = 1.77, 95%CI = [0.40,3.14], I2 = 61%,P = 0.01). And there were no difference in incidence of adverse events between CGRP mAb group and placebo group. In conclusion, CGRP mAbs was a safety and effective preventive treatment for episodic migraine.