美国国家公共电台 NPR New Drugs Could Prevent Migraine Headaches For Some People

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

People who get migraines may soon have access to a new type of drug. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports on the first medications designed specifically to prevent migraine attacks.

JON HAMILTON, BYLINE¹: More than 10 percent of us get the occasional migraine. But Dr. Stephen Silberstein says for about 1 percent of the population, the problem is a lot worse.

STEPHEN SILBERSTEIN: These patients are having an almost daily or near daily attacks of migraine. And they're greatly impaired² by it.

HAMILTON: Silberstein is a professor of neurology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. And he's the lead author of a study that tested a new approach to treating chronic³ migraines. Silberstein, who spoke⁴ via Skype, says more than 700 patients got monthly or quarterly injections of special antibodies. He says they act a bit like soundproofing in the brain.

SILBERSTEIN: You have a kid next door making a lot of noise. You put soundproofing, and then all of a sudden, you're quiet. That's what the antibodies do. They dampen. They prevent the noise from aggravating⁵ the system.

HAMILTON: The idea is to prevent the full range of migraine symptoms - headache, nausea⁶ and sensitivity to light and sound. And the drug helped nearly half of patients who took it. Most had fewer migraines. A few saw them all but disappear. And in a second, larger study, a different antibody produced similar results. Peter Goadsby, the study's lead author, says antibody drugs represent an important advance.

PETER GOADSBY: They offer the first migraine treatment that's actually aimed at the disorder⁷ - so a migraine treatment for migraine patients.

HAMILTON: Goadsby, a professor of neurology at King's College in London, says, until now, migraine patients have relied on drugs meant to treat epilepsy or depression or high blood pressure.

GOADSBY: We give them a choice between, like, a beta blocker where they'll feel tired, or we tell them that they can go on an antidepressant, which will make them sleepy and put on weight.

HAMILTON: Goadsby says the antibody treatments don't seem to produce side effects. And he says their success means that it's possible to develop better migraine drugs.

GOADSBY: I hope it shows patients that this is not an impossible problem. It's a tractable⁸ problem.

HAMILTON: Both studies were published in The New England Journal of Medicine, so was an editorial by Andrew Hershey, who directs the Headache Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. In it, Hershey describes the benefit to patients as modest but meaningful.

ANDREW HERSHEY: So the modest part is that most of them only had about a two-day improvement over placebo⁹.

HAMILTON: In other words, they might average eight days a month with migraines instead of 10. Hershey also says use of these drugs may be limited by their cost.

HERSHEY: Every indication is they will probably be fairly expensive compounds, which means that they probably will not be first line.

HAMILTON: The Food and Drug Administration is expected to review the new drugs in the next few months. One or both could reach the market in 2018.

Jon Hamilton, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 impaired   

adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 aggravating   

adj.恼人的，讨厌的

参考例句：

• How aggravating to be interrupted! 被打扰，多令人生气呀！
• Diesel exhaust is particularly aggravating to many susceptible individuals. 许多体质敏感的人尤其反感柴油废气。

6 nausea   

n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶)

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。

7 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

8 tractable   

adj.易驾驭的；温顺的

参考例句：

• He was always tractable and quiet.他总是温顺、恬静。
• Gold and silver are tractable metals.金和银是容易加工的金属。

9 placebo   

n.安慰剂；宽慰话

参考例句：

• The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
• The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。