Safety Findings in Lasmiditan as a Novel Acute Treatment of Migraine in Chinese Patients: A Post Hoc Analysis of the Randomized Controlled Phase 3 CENTURION Trial

Introduction Lasmiditan is the first 5-HT1F receptor agonist with potential to address the huge unmet medical needs for the treatment of migraine in China. The CENTURION study was the first phase 3 study of lasmiditan in Caucasian and Chinese patients with migraine. This post hoc analysis further demonstrates the safety profile of lasmiditan in the Chinese population and was urgently needed. Methods Patients were randomized 1:1:1 to lasmiditan 200 mg lasmiditan 100 mg, or a control group. The incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs), their severity, and incidence by treated attacks for frequently reported TEAEs (>= 5%) were evaluated. The duration, onset, and relationship of efficacy with very common TEAEs (>= 10%) was analyzed. Results A total of 281 Chinese patients were included in this post hoc analysis. No deaths and no study drug-related treatment emergent serious adverse events (TESAEs) were reported. The incidence of at least one TEAE was higher in patients receiving lasmiditan 200 mg (73.9%) and 100 mg (66.3%) versus placebo (26.6%). TEAEs were generally mild or moderate in severity, and the incidence of frequently reported TEAEs was generally highest during the first attack. Very common TEAEs with lasmiditan included dizziness, asthenia, somnolence, muscular weakness, fatigue, and nausea. The duration of dizziness was longest during the first attack. There were no cardio-cerebrovascular ischemic events and serotonin syndrome. The presence of very common TEAEs (except nausea), and severe dizziness, did not appear to have a negative influence on the efficacy. Conclusion In the Chinese population of the CENTURION study, most of the TEAEs were neurologic, of mild or moderate severity, and self-limiting. The distribution of frequently reported TEAEs at the first attack differed from the primary cohort, while the overall safety profile of lasmiditan in the Chinese population was generally consistent with the CENTURION primary cohort. No new safety concerns were observed in the Chinese population. Plain Language Summary Although there is significant unmet medical need among patients with migraine, there has been no novel compound for treatment of migraine over past two decades in China. These unmet medical needs persist because the current available medications for the acute treatment of migraine are reported to have safety and tolerability issues. Lasmiditan is a new class of acute migraine medication (5-HT receptor agonist with high selectivity for the 5-HT1F receptor) with a proven efficacy and safety in phase 2 and 3 studies. Owing to some differences in clinical practice between China and western countries, there is need to get additional evidence on safety of lasmiditan in the Chinese population to support its usage in clinical practice. This post hoc analysis was conducted to present the detailed safety profile of lasmiditan in the Chinese population using data from the CENTURION study. Approximately half of the analyzed population was not covered in the published primary cohort. The results show that in the Chinese population of the study, most of the treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) were neurologic, of mild or moderate severity, and self-limiting. The distribution of frequently reported TEAEs at the first attack differed from the primary cohort with no new safety concerns observed in the Chinese population. The overall safety profile of lasmiditan in the Chinese population was generally consistent with the primary cohort. The results provide additional evidence and emphasize that lasmiditan may be considered as a useful acute treatment option with acceptable safety profile for patients with migraine in China.