Doctors Prescribing New Breakthrough Migraine Medicine Aimovig

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KANSAS CITY, KS (CBS Local) - Migraine sufferers may have new cause for optimism after the FDA recently approved the new drug Aimovig, which is specifically designed to treat migraines.

The drug works by targeting a protein in the body that researchers say is involved in migraine attacks. Despite having been available for just a few weeks, doctors are already calling it a "big breakthrough".

Neurologist Deetra Ford spoke to KCTV 5 in Kansas City, Kansas about the drug saying that it has been shown to shorten the duration of migraines.

"In the acute migraine trials, they were able to reduce in people who were having them on an average of eight to nine migraines per month. They were able to go down by about 2.5 to three days. And in the chronic migraine group where they were having 18 to 19 migraine days per month, they were able to reduce those by anywhere from five to six days," Ford said.

The drug is a once a month injection and KCTV report that doctors at the University of Kansas Health System are already prescribing the medication to patients. The Migraine Research Foundation states that one in ten people worldwide suffer from migraines, making it the sixth most disabling disease in the world.

According to their website, 39 million Americans suffer from migraines.