Introduction: The small molecule non-peptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonists named gepants offer a breakthrough novel approach in migraine acute and prophylactic drug treatment. This review aimed to determine the place of gepants in the treatment of episodic and chronic migraine.
Areas covered: The new generation gepants are ubrogepant, atogepant, rimegepant, and zavegepant. Ubrogepant is ratified for acute migraine treatment, atogepant is validated for preventive therapy, whereas rimegepant is ratified for both indications, all via oral administration and while zavegepant is administered intranasally for migraine attacks. Gepants are effective, safe, and well-tolerated in acute or prophylactic therapy. The PubMed literature search included randomized controlled trials, meta-analyses, real-world data, and review articles published in English until January 2023.
Expert opinion: Whether gepants will be real game changers in the acute treatment of migraine compared to triptans and ditans or in the prophylactic therapy compared to standard-of-care preventive drugs or CGRP-targeting monoclonal antibodies cannot be answered yet based on the available literature data.
Keywords: CGRP receptor; chronic; episodic; gepant; migraine; treatment.