Imitrex - Powder Nasal Delivery vs Subcutaneous Needle-less Injections

Imitrex is going cheap and generic. As a result, a whole lot of pharma research is concentrated on how to make it more expensive again.

Now, just because it sounds like a bad news for us, the end-consumer, it not necessarily is. For example, the alternative methods of sumatriptan delivery can finally be exploited.

The OptiNose AS (that is the real company name, it's not a joke), has tested powder nasal drug delivery with a doohickey of their own invention.

We already mentioned the benefits of the through-the-nose method. It lowers the dosage amount (read - less side effects) and reduces the strain on our livers. The results OptiNose is reporting are pretty much in line with our previous observations - it's better than chugging a pill.


If the snorting isn't your style and you like Star Trek, here's the thing for you. Zogenix, Inc. has one of those little gadgets that can inject the meds into your arm while making that hissing noise. Without a needle. It's pretty neat if you are afraid of needles or just want to look cool.

The drug is delivered directly through the skin into the subcutaneous space. That helps it to reach the bloodstream faster than going through the stomach. Thus - faster relieve and, once again, less side-effects due to a lower dosage.

Both methods are shown to be preferable to the traditional pill-form delivery. So far no firm grounds to distinguish between the two as far as benefits go. Most likely, when these products hit the market, it will be up to the patient's preference or to the doctor's bias.

related articles:
Treximet or TrickThem-et?
Doing Imitrex Lines
link: Zogenix Announces Clinical Study Results for sumatriptan DosePro(TM), a Novel Migraine Treatment
link: OptiNose presents data on highly effective migraine treatment