Even a thought of migraine pain can make a sufferer start sweating heavily. Migraine causes such severe pain, nausea, vertigo among other systems. But now, doctors have some good news to share as a new class of drugs have been developed that can prevent a migraine from starting.

The drug has especially designed to prevent migraine. Dr. Richard Lipton, director of the Montefiore Headache Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, said the new class of drugs can be considered as new designer drugs for migraine.

The drugs are aimed at a compound known as calcitonin gene-related peptide or CGRP. In all, four companies, Alder Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, Eli Lilly and Company, and Teva Pharmaceuticals, have been developed drugs that targets CGRP.

Lipton was of the view that they are aware of the fact that CGRP was involved in the mechanisms of migraines. When one suffers from migraine attacks then CGRP’s elevation level can be measured in person’s blood. With a treatment, its level can be reduced.

New drugs interfere with CGRP. Some of them are monoclonal antibodies that must be injected. Secondly, they are expensive. Currently, monoclonals are being used for cancer treatment. For now, cost of the new drugs is not known.

As per experts, its benefits can outweigh the cost. Dr. Peter Goadsby of the University of California, San Francisco, has been testing some of the drugs, and said that the potential of these new compounds is significantly high. It gives hope that effective treatments for migraine may soon be a reality.