The Emergence of CGRP-Targeted Therapies is Transforming Migraine Care | NCPA 2025

With the ability to inhibit the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) pathway, these emerging medications, known as CGRP-targeted therapies, are making an unprecedented impact in migraine treatment and prevention.

“CGRP is a neuropeptide that plays a significant role in migraine. We have basic science studies that show that levels of this peptide are elevated during migraine attacks,” Amaal J. Starling, MD, FAAN, FAHS, associate professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, told Drug Topics. “Triptan medications reduce the level of this. Individuals with more severe forms of migraine have chronically elevated levels of CGRP and animal models have shown, if we can block that CGRP pathway at different levels, that can reduce the animal model of migraine pain.”

Erenumab received FDA approval on May 17, 2018, marking it the first medication designed strictly for migraine prevention.^1,2 With such a novel and emerging therapy for a condition that millions of patients experience, CGRP-targeted medications are showing potential as the safest and most effective option for treating migraine and preventing it as well.

To tell us about these new and promising therapies, Starling joined Drug Topics during the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) 2025 Annual Convention & Expo, along with her colleague Courtney Hahs, PharmD, clinical pharmacist at SEMO Rx Pharmacies and SEMO Rx Care Coordination.

Learn from a certified neurologist’s perspective why CGRP-targeted therapies could be the future of managing migraine and how their unprecedented effects could improve care for millions of patients.

Read more of our coverage from NCPA 2025.

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REFERENCES

1. Tepper SJ. History and Review of anti-Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP) Therapies: From Translational Research to Treatment. Headache. 2018 Nov;58 Suppl 3:238-275. doi: 10.1111/head.13379. Epub 2018 Sep 22. PMID: 30242830.

2. Barnes S, Aldous L, Jenkins B. Calcitonin gene-related peptide-targeted therapies for migraine. Aust Prescr. 2025 Apr;48(2):40-46. doi: 10.18773/austprescr.2025.017. PMID: 40343132; PMCID: PMC12055492.