Background: Fremanezumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody against calcitonin gene-related peptide for subcutaneous use to suppress migraine attacks. A phase 3 study was conducted to investigate the safety of autoinjector (AI)-assisted self-injection of fremanezumab 225 mg.
Research design and methods: The multicenter, open-label study involving 71 patients with migraine was conducted between June 2020 and November 2020 at ten institutions in Japan. The study consisted of a 4-week (28-day) screening period and an 8-week (57-day) treatment period. According to the investigator's instructions, all patients successfully performed self-injection for 4 weeks at the institutional site and at home and maintained eDiaries of their headaches. The primary endpoint was safety of the drug based on treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs).
Results: Treatment-emergent adverse events were more frequent after at-home injection than after at-site injection, but they were mainly injection site reactions and mostly mild. The safety profile was comparable, raising no concerns compared with what has been reported in previous studies. Both migraine days and headache days were decreased considerably.
Conclusions: Overall, AI-assisted, at-home self-injection of fremanezumab was found to be generally safe and well-tolerated. This injection strategy is considered clinically meaningful in view of improved utility of and adherence to the drug.
Keywords: Auto-injection device; fremanezumab; migraine; safety evaluation; utility.