Menstrual migraine treatment atogepant significantly reduced migraine days in a Phase 3 study, offering potential for women experiencing severe attacks around their periods.
NORTH CHICAGO: A potential new menstrual migraine treatment has delivered promising late-stage trial results, raising hopes for women who experience particularly severe or difficult-to-treat migraine attacks around their periods.
Atogepant met the primary goal and all eight ranked secondary endpoints in the Phase 3 LUNA study, according to results announced by AbbVie on September 10, 2026. The trial involved 468 adult women across Europe and Asia.
How much did migraine days fall?
Women taking atogepant experienced an average 1.20-day reduction in migraine days during the period surrounding menstruation, compared with a 0.40-day reduction among those receiving placebo.
That represented 0.80 fewer migraine days compared with placebo, with the difference reaching statistical significance.
The study included women with pure menstrual migraine or menstrually related migraine, with or without aura.
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Treatment was taken for seven days
One potentially important feature is how the medicine was administered.
Rather than taking the menstrual migraine treatment continuously throughout the month, participants took atogepant for seven consecutive days, beginning three days before the expected onset of menstruation.
This schedule was repeated across three menstrual cycles during the double-blind phase of the trial.
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More than migraine days improved
Researchers also examined how treatment affected everyday life.
Atogepant produced statistically significant improvements across all eight ranked secondary endpoints, including headache burden, use of acute migraine medicines, functional disability, cognitive function and responder outcomes.
AbbVie reported that the safety findings were consistent with the medicine’s known safety profile and that no new safety signals were identified.
Why menstrual migraine needs attention
Migraine attacks occurring around menstruation can be particularly disruptive. They may be more severe, last longer or prove harder to treat than attacks occurring at other times.
AbbVie says there are currently no treatments specifically approved for menstrual migraine, highlighting the potential importance of a therapy studied directly for this patient population.
Atogepant works by blocking the calcitonin gene-related peptide, or CGRP, receptor, part of a biological pathway involved in migraine.
What happens next?
The results are topline findings from a Phase 3 clinical trial and do not by themselves represent a new regulatory approval for menstrual migraine.
AbbVie plans to submit the findings to health authorities worldwide and present additional data at future medical congresses.
Impact to expect
If regulators ultimately approve this approach, women with predictable menstrual migraine could gain a targeted preventive option designed around the period when attacks are most likely, potentially reducing disruption to work and everyday life.
