P021 | FIVE-YEAR REAL-WORLD EFFECTIVENESS AND TREATMENT PERSISTENCE OF ERENUMAB IN MIGRAINE
M. De Luca1, L. Ferraù1, M. Stella Adragna1, A. Cafarchio2, M. Autunno1 | 1Dipartimento di medicina clinica e sperimentale, Università degli studi di Messina, Italy; 2Centro interdipartimentale della ricerca sui biomateriali, università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy
Abstract
Background. Erenumab is a monoclonal antibody targeting the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor and has consistently demonstrated efficacy and a favourable safety profile in patients with chronic migraine and high-frequency episodic migraine refractory to first-line preventive therapies. However, most available clinical and real-world studies have focused on observation periods of approximately two years, while evidence from longer follow-up remains scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the persistence of erenumab effectiveness in a selected real-world cohort over an extended follow-up of up to five years.
Methods. This observational real-world study included 22 patients with migraine treated with erenumab. Monthly migraine days (MMD), Migraine Disability Assessment Scale (MIDAS), Headache Impact Test-6 (HIT-6), medication-overuse headache (MOH), treatment persistence, and adverse events were assessed at baseline and at Months 4, 12, and 60. Changes from baseline were analysed using non-parametric paired tests. A ≥50% or ≥75% reduction in MMD defined treatment response.
Results. Mean age was 52.3±9.3 years and 72.7% of patients were female. Mean MMD decreased from 18.3±6.3 at baseline to 9.8±6.9 at Month 4, 9.5±5.7 at Month 12, and 10.3±7.1 at Month 60; all reductions versus baseline were significant (p≤0.00117). At Month 60, 10/19 patients (52.6%) achieved a ≥50% response and 4/19 (21.1%) a ≥75% response. MIDAS and HIT-6 improved significantly through Month 60: mean MIDAS declined from 69.3 to 38.7 and HIT-6 from 67.9 to 63.0. MOH prevalence declined from 76.2% at baseline to 31.3% at Month 60. At Month 60, 12/22 patients (54.5%) remained on Erenumab. Adverse events occurred in 7/22 patients (31.8%); 3/22 (13.6%) discontinued treatment because of adverse events or safety concerns.
Conclusions. In this five-year real-world cohort, Erenumab was associated with an early, sustained reduction in migraine burden, alongside improvements in disability and headache impact. Long-term persistence and reduced MOH support its clinical relevance. Larger prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings.
Methods. This observational real-world study included 22 patients with migraine treated with erenumab. Monthly migraine days (MMD), Migraine Disability Assessment Scale (MIDAS), Headache Impact Test-6 (HIT-6), medication-overuse headache (MOH), treatment persistence, and adverse events were assessed at baseline and at Months 4, 12, and 60. Changes from baseline were analysed using non-parametric paired tests. A ≥50% or ≥75% reduction in MMD defined treatment response.
Results. Mean age was 52.3±9.3 years and 72.7% of patients were female. Mean MMD decreased from 18.3±6.3 at baseline to 9.8±6.9 at Month 4, 9.5±5.7 at Month 12, and 10.3±7.1 at Month 60; all reductions versus baseline were significant (p≤0.00117). At Month 60, 10/19 patients (52.6%) achieved a ≥50% response and 4/19 (21.1%) a ≥75% response. MIDAS and HIT-6 improved significantly through Month 60: mean MIDAS declined from 69.3 to 38.7 and HIT-6 from 67.9 to 63.0. MOH prevalence declined from 76.2% at baseline to 31.3% at Month 60. At Month 60, 12/22 patients (54.5%) remained on Erenumab. Adverse events occurred in 7/22 patients (31.8%); 3/22 (13.6%) discontinued treatment because of adverse events or safety concerns.
Conclusions. In this five-year real-world cohort, Erenumab was associated with an early, sustained reduction in migraine burden, alongside improvements in disability and headache impact. Long-term persistence and reduced MOH support its clinical relevance. Larger prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings.
Metrics
Citations and online attention from Dimensions, Altmetric and PlumX.
License
Copyright (c) 2026 The Author(s)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.