The first pills offered by the NHS to tackle a root cause of migraines are “transforming the lives of thousands of people”, the regulator says.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said there has been “rapid take-up” of the tablets which stop the release of a key protein linked to debilitating attacks in the first two years since they were approved. Atogepant and rimegepant work by stopping the release of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) which causes intense inflammation in the coverings of the brain.

Joanne McShane, an NHS health visitor, had suffered from migraines for a decade when she was first prescribed atogepant following its approval by NICE.

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Joanne said: “It is life changing. I thought ‘this is going to be another thing that works for a little while and then stops’. But I haven't had a headache since. It has restored my life.”

One in seven Brits suffer with migraines. Symptoms can include severe throbbing pain, nausea, vomiting, tiredness as well as extreme sensitivity to light, sounds and smells. Attacks can last for days and are more common in women than men.

Joanne used to have around six migraine attacks per month. She added: “It could take three days for the pain to subside and get out of that exhaustion before I would get another attack, so I didn’t get much time in between. It affected my driving, my ability to work and just to interact with people. I couldn’t even plan to go out with friends. You can become very isolated.”

Until recently preventive treatments for migraines included antidepressants, antiepileptics and beta-blockers. These medicines were not intended for migraines and often came with difficult side effects. Some 22,800 people were prescribed atogepant or rimegepant by their GPs in England during 2025, which was more than triple the number in 2024, following NICE approval of the treatments. The total receiving these tablets across the NHS is higher still as these figures exclude prescriptions from hospitals and specialist clinics.

Helen Knight, director of medicines evaluation at NICE said: “These tablets are already transforming the lives of thousands of people with migraine in England, and the rapid uptake is very encouraging. We hope this continued momentum means even more people can benefit in the months ahead.”

Although CGRP-targeting therapies have been available for several years as infusions or injections, atogepant and rimegepant are the first that can be taken as tablets.

NICE recommended rimegepant in 2023 for treating migraine and preventing episodic attacks - defined as between four and 14 migraines per month. Atogepant was then approved in 2024 for preventing both episodic and chronic migraine which was defined as 15 or more headache days per month. The pills can be prescribed to adults to prevent migraine if at least three other preventive treatments have failed.

However NICE warned that for patients who have not exhausted other preventive treatment options NHS waiting times can be long as the tablets usually need to be initiated by specialists.

Dr Kay Kennis, GP and neurology specialist based in Bradford, said: “The difficulty for the NHS is the price of these medications. They do need to be prescribed appropriately, otherwise it's a waste of resources. We can now make a significant difference to the lives of many more patients who live with migraine, offering them real improvements in their quality of life and ability to continue working, studying or looking after their family."

Experts say that greater focus on signs in the clinical history that indicate a patient has migraine rather than another condition could give GPs confidence to prescribe treatments earlier. This would help patients move through first-line preventers faster and access specialist options like atogepant and rimegepant if needed.