Modern lifestyle. More and more people are standing in front of a screen whether it is a TV, a laptop or the now indispensable mobile phone. The hours of exposure to screens, although they vary from person to person, increase for the greater percentage as they cannot be avoided since they are the main means of work. At the same time, climate change is added to the front of the difficulties faced by modern man, where, according to recent research, this also significantly contributes to the increase in headache and migraine attacks.

In fact, according to the latest figures from the National Health System (NHS), people affected by migraines in the United Kingdom reach 6 million. Migraine attacks are mainly divided into two categories: chronic migraines, which occur more than 15 times a month, and episodic migraines, which occur 4 to 15 times a month.

Today, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has come to solve just that. Through the final draft guidelines, which were published today, it gave the green light to the first oral treatment for the migraine condition.

Helen Knight, the institute’s director of drug evaluation, said it was “responding to people who are either allergic to injections or afraid of the needle” while Health Secretary Andrew Stevenson said it would “help recurrent migraine attacks where other medicines have failed”.

Where is it aimed and how much is the long-awaited pill expected to help?

Atogepant, or Aquipta, is considered more specialized in the fight against migraine while having fewer side effects than other drugs currently being prescribed. It works by blocking the receptor for a protein found on sensory nerves in the head and neck, known as calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGPR), which causes blood vessels to dilate, causing inflammation and migraines.

Health experts say the pill will help more than 170,000 people in England and is recommended for those who cannot cope with other medication or cannot have injections. It is designed to be taken daily by patients and after clinical studies it appears that it can reduce the frequency of migraines by half.

Rob Musick, chief executive of the Migraine Trust, said it was “good to see more treatments being targeted at people with migraines” but stressed that “now we need to make sure access is immediate and patients get the medicine quickly ».

Risk of not being delivered by all NHS trusts

Atogepant is expected to be available from next month – free of charge – in the NHS in England. Of course, it should be noted that the drug has already been available in Scotland since last October and after the green light from the Scottish Medical Consortium.

Nevertheless, the first problems have already arisen. As it will initially only be available through secondary care specialists and not from general practitioners (GPs) there is concern that there may be a long wait at specialists, which will divert many patients to the private sector.

At the same time, in fact, conservative MP Dehena Davison, who resigned this year from her deputy minister position due to migraines, expressed her concern about something else. According to what he said to the Times but also emphasized in the British parliament, according to research by the Migraine Trust, many drugs that have received the green light from the Institute are not given by some trusts of the National Health System as they do not let their patients to have access to CGPR medicinal products.