London, April 18: In a breakthrough, scientists have found an antibody, a monthly dose of which could halve the number of debilitating attacks of migraine on patients who have exhausted all other treatments.
The findings showed that people treated with erenumab were nearly three times more likely to have reduced their migraine days by 50 per cent or more than those treated with placebo.
Those treated with erenumab also had a greater average reduction in the number of days they had headaches and the number of days they needed to take drugs to stop the migraines.
"Our study found that erenumab reduced the average number of monthly migraine headaches by more than 50 percent for nearly a third of study participants. That reduction in migraine headache frequency can greatly improve a person's quality of life," said Uwe Reuter from The Charite - University Medicine Berlin in Germany.
Erenumab is a monoclonal antibody that blocks pain signals by targeting a receptor for calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP).
This peptide transmits migraine pain signals. Erenumab occupies the nerves to which CGRP would usually bind.
"Our results show that people who thought their migraines were difficult to prevent may actually have hope of finding pain relief," Reuter added.
The preliminary results will be presented at the forthcoming American Academy of Neurology's 70th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.
For the study, 246 people who had episodic migraine were given injections of either 140 milligrams of erenumab or a placebo once a month for three months.
Of the participants, 39 per cent had been treated unsuccessfully with two other medications, 38 per cent with three medications and 23 per cent with four medications.
A total of 30 per cent of the people treated with erenumab had half the number of headaches compared to 14 per cent on placebo.
For those on erenumab, there was an average 1.6 times greater reduction in migraine days and a 1.7 times greater reduction in acute medication days compared to those on placebo.
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India, US trade team to start three-day talks from Dec 10: Sources
New Delhi (PTI): India and the United States will commence three-day talks on the first phase of their proposed bilateral trade agreement here from December 10, sources said.
The visit is crucial as India and the US are working to finalise the first tranche of the pact.
"The three-day talks will start on December 10. It will conclude on December 12, and it is not a formal round of talks," said one of the sources.
The US team will be led by Deputy United States Trade Representative (USTR) Rick Switzer.
This visit of the US officials marks their second trip since the imposition of a 25 per cent tariff and an additional 25 per cent penalty on Indian goods entering the American market due to the purchase of Russian crude oil.
On September 16, the US officials last visited India.
On September 22, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal also led an official delegation to the US for trade talks. Goyal had also visited Washington in May.
While the USA's chief negotiator for the pact is Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch, the Indian side is led by Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce Darpan Jain.
The talks are also important as Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal has recently stated that India is hopeful of reaching a framework trade deal with the US this year itself, which should address the tariff issue to the benefit of Indian exporters.
While noting that the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) will take time, Agrawal has added that India is engaged in protracted negotiations with the US on a framework trade deal that will address the reciprocal tariff challenge faced by Indian exporters.
India and the US are having two parallel negotiations -- one on a framework trade deal to address tariffs and another on a comprehensive trade deal.
In February, leaders of the two countries directed officials to negotiate an agreement.
It was planned to conclude the first tranche of the pact by the fall of 2025. So far, six rounds of negotiations have been held. The agreement aims to more than double bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030, from the current USD 191 billion.
The US remained India's largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25, with bilateral trade valued at USD 131.84 billion (USD 86.5 billion exports).
The US accounts for about 18 per cent of India's total goods exports, 6.22 per cent of its imports, and 10.73 per cent of its total merchandise trade.
According to exporters, the agreement is important as India's merchandise exports to the US declined for the second consecutive month in October, falling by 8.58 per cent to USD 6.3 billion due to the hefty tariffs imposed by Washington.
