Patients embrace gammaCore - the new non pharmacologic treatment for migraine

VALENCIA, Spain - May 21, 2015 - PRLog -- A poster at the International Headache Congress¹, in Valencia, reports on a study which examined patients’ attitude to electroCore’s non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) treatment for migraines.

The research by the Headache Centre in Rome² asked 60 patients why they started treatment with the gammaCore nVNS device. The majority of patients (67.3%) initiated nVNS therapy due a resistance to standard migraine therapy, followed by previous drug-related side effects (55.2%), confidence in their prescribing physician (51.0%), and desire to try a non-pharmacologic therapy (45.0%). The respondents were able to cite more than one reason in the study.

When patients were then asked why they continued treatment the two main reasons were due to efficacy (69.5%) and ease of use (65.5%). Other reasons for maintaining nVNS use were convenience (49.3%), confidence in the prescribing physician (40.8%), few side effects (30.5%), and curiosity regarding a novel treatment approach (26.7%). Again, the respondents were able to cite more than one reason.


The poster also showed the results of an open label study on migraine attacks that were responsive to nVNS therapy which was presented at the American Headache Society meeting in June last year by the authors of this poster. It showed that 46% of migraine attacks were responsive just two hours after using the nVNS device, with 61% responsive four hours after treatment.

The paper concludes that, while there are multiple medications for the acute treatment of migraine, patients are dissatisfied with pharmacologic treatments and prefer alternatives such as nVNS.

The easy to use gammaCore device, which is self-administered by the patient for 120 seconds at home or anywhere else, involves placing the small, hand-held device on the skin of the neck over the vagus nerve.

The gammaCore is available throughout the EU, South Africa, India, New Zealand, Australia, Colombia, Brazil, and Canada. In the US the device is not yet available.

¹17^th Congress of the International Headache Society, Valencia, Spain, 14^th-17^th May 2015

² D. Moscato, F.R. Moscato, Headache Center, Diagnostic Center Pigafetta, Rome, Italy