The Headache Centre from Hospital da Luz Lisboa , coordinated by neurologist Raquel Gil-Gouveia , was the Portuguese hospital centre that recruited more patients for an international multicentre clinical trial of a new medication for the preventive treatment of migraine . The participation in clinical trials allows patients to have early access to innovative treatments in different areas and, in this particular case, the goal is to reduce the frequency and intensity of migraine crises. The clinical trials are the last stage in the process of development of a medication and results serve to confirm the efficacy and safety of a new treatment, as well as to compare the characteristics of new medications with the therapeutic options already available, where they exist. In this trial, it had been envisaged the inclusion of 600 patients, but the total number reached 621, from 17 countries all over the world. In Portugal, of the 37 patients selected to integrate the trial, 13 are being followed up at the Headache Centre from Hospital da Luz Lisboa. As for the remaining, 12 are from Hospital de Santa Maria (Lisbon), eight from Hospital Pedro Hispano (Matosinhos), three from Hospital Garcia de Horta and one from Centro Hospitalar do Porto. Although the trial is still under way, the preliminary results so far represent hope in the fight against migraine , the world’s first cause of years of incapacitated life in a population under 50.
