Migraine CGRP Drugs Tied to Lower Glaucoma Risk in Neurology Study

Overview

• The peer-reviewed study, published Wednesday in Neurology, found that people on CGRP migraine preventives had about a 25% lower adjusted risk of developing glaucoma than users of other preventive drugs.
• Researchers matched 36,822 CGRP users to 36,822 people on other preventives and recorded 153 glaucoma cases in the CGRP group versus 223 in the comparator group during follow-up of up to three years.
• The reduction was seen only with monoclonal antibody CGRP therapies — erenumab, fremanezumab, galcanezumab, and eptinezumab — and was not seen with the small-molecule gepants atogepant or rimegepant.
• Authors said the analysis shows an association rather than cause because it used a health-care database, had limited follow-up, and could not account for key risks such as family history of glaucoma.
• The link is biologically plausible since CGRP helps control blood vessel tone and inflammation, and prior research has tied migraine to higher glaucoma risk; the work was supported by Taichung Veterans General Hospital.