The Broad Receptor Profile of DHE: Sheena K. Aurora, MD

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The vice president of Medical Affairs in Migraine at Impel discussed the gaps in care that novel dihydroergotamine formulations, such as INP104, might be able to fill for patients with migraine.

“There still remains a high unmet need where DHE fits in with the patient armamentarium, particularly where there is a lot of recurrence, for patients who wake up in the morning with migraine, and patients who have menstrually associated migraine…this leads us to believe that DHE is in a unique position, and perhaps it’s the pharmacology that targets these multiple receptors that may lead to a unique position where the treatment armamentarium is concerned.”

Sheena Aurora, MD, Vice President, Medical Affairs – Migraine, Impel Neuropharma, gave a presentation at the 2021 Virtual American Headache Society (AHS) 63rd Scientific Annual Meeting, June 3-6, on the potential for novel approaches of the age-old migraine therapy dihydroergotamine (DHE) to address some of the longstanding unmet needs in the condition. Particularly, she touched on its broad receptor profile that offers an ability to potentially treat, as her presentation put it, “the whole migraine.”

In a conversation with NeurologyLive, Aurora explained further how her experience as a clinician in migraine provides her a wide perspective on the use of DHE and its potential through reformulations. Specifically, she pointed to Impel’s novel approach to the molecule, INP104, which is a drug-device combination of DHE delivered in a dose of 1.45 mg administered to the upper nasal space using Precision Olfactory Delivery (POD) technology.

As well, she spoke to the on-demand nature of this type of reformulation to help patients in the in-between medication moments for migraine attacks, as well as to address the differing migraine attacks that patients may experience and in the instances that they are unable to tolerate other medications. Aurora also detailed some of the findings of the STOP 301 study of INP104.

For more coverage of AHS 2021, click here.