Editor: What To Know
- In a cohort of 117 patients who were given the option of using REN in addition to or instead of their usual care treatments, such as triptans or over-the-counter (OTC) medications, 89.
- Morris Levin, chief of the headache medicine division and director of the Headache Center at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco, who served as the chairman of the independent Data and Safety Monitoring Committee of the study.
- In addition, the risk of medication overuse, often a limiting factor with acute medications, should not be an issue when using a drug free therapy such as REN.
Remote Electrical Neuromodulation:
Theranica Bioelectronics (Theranica), is a bio-medical technology company developing advanced electroceuticals for migraine and other pain conditions. Today the company announced that Frontiers In Neurology Journal published an article demonstrating that incorporating Remote Electrical Neuromodulation (REN) treatment into usual care of migraine has the potential to reduce reliance on acute pharmacological medications.
“This study signals a potentially significant shift in how we approach the acute treatment of migraine,” said lead author Michael Marmura, MD, Headache Specialist at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. “Adding REN as an alternative to traditional migraine treatments opens the door to new long-term treatment strategies. What is most promising is the fact that so many patients in the study chose REN without being specifically prompted, and experienced treatment outcomes similar or slightly better than their usual care.”
In a cohort of 117 patients who were given the option of using REN in addition to or instead of their usual care treatments, such as triptans or over-the-counter (OTC) medications, 89.7% used REN exclusively, without medications. When REN was not available, only 15.4% chose to avoid medications in all their reported migraine attacks. The patients who used REN exclusively reported similar treatment outcomes to their usual (pharmacological) care. The article concludes that “Incorporating REN into usual care may have a positive impact on migraine management by reducing the reliance on acute medications.”
“When patients experience debilitating migraine symptoms, they are looking for effective relief,” said Dr. Morris Levin, chief of the headache medicine division and director of the Headache Center at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco, who served as the chairman of the independent Data and Safety Monitoring Committee of the study. “Traditionally we’ve had only a limited number of useful acute migraine treatments, many of which have side effects. REN is a welcome option, due to its apparent safety and almost nonexistent adverse effects. In addition, the risk of medication overuse, often a limiting factor with acute medications, should not be an issue when using a drug free therapy such as REN.”
The device used in the study was Theranica’s FDA-authorized prescribed therapeutic wearable, Nerivio. The device deploys REN to activate the body’s native Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM) mechanism to treat pain and accompanying migraine symptoms. Nerivio, which was recently named one of TIME’s best inventions of 2019, is available in the US with a valid prescription. It is also accessible via online telemedicine portals Cove or UpScript, which provide physician consultations and home delivery.
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