Averting Pain: Epilepsy drug limits migraine attacks

A drug normally used against epilepsy can prevent migraine headaches, according to two studies.

The research trials are the first to test the drug topiramate in hundreds of migraine patients. The combined results are likely to push topiramate closer to Food and Drug Administration approval for use against migraines, says neurologist Jan Lewis Brandes of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville and the research clinic Nashville Neuroscience Group.