Eletriptan: pharmacological differences and clinical results.
Author(s): Giffin N
Affiliation(s): National Hospital, Queen Square, London, UK. n.giffin@ion.ucl.ac.uk
Publication date & source: 2001, Curr Med Res Opin., 17 Suppl 1:s59-62.
Publication type: Review
The potential advantages of eletriptan lie firstly in its lipophilicity reflected as an increased rate of absorption and Tmax compared to sumatriptan. This is manifested in a modest advantage over sumatriptan in terms of speed of onset, 2 h headache response and 2 h pain free. However, eletriptan has not yet been shown to have an advantage over the other triptans for lack of head-to head comparisons. It does not appear to have an advantage over sumatriptan for headache recurrence. The second advantage is the partial agonist activity at the 5-HT(1B) receptor, reducing the potential for cardiovascular side-effects compared to the other triptans. Although no serious cardiovascular events have yet been recognized, eletriptan should still be used with extreme caution for patients with cardiovascular risk factors.
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