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New FDA-approved therapy significantly reduces pain associated with migraine disease in pediatric patients

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New FDA-approved therapy significantly reduces pain associated with migraine disease in pediatric patients
February 18, 2026

In study results published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine, a new therapy was found to reduce pediatric migraine attacks in a placebo-controlled clinical trial, representing a major milestone for young patients who suffer from migraine disease.

Christina Szperka, MD, MSCE
Dr. Christina Szperka

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) was one of the recruitment sites for the SPACE study, a phase 3 placebo-controlled clinical trial to assess the effectiveness and safety of fremanezumab-vfrm (brand name Ajovy, Teva Pharmaceuticals) to treat children and adolescents with pain and disability associated with migraine disease. The data from the SPACE study supported the FDA approval of Ajovy for the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in pediatric patients aged 6-17 years, weighing 99 pounds or more. Preventive treatments are intended to decrease the frequency and severity of migraine attacks over time.

CHOP served as one of the global clinical sites in a study led by collaborators at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Christina Szperka, MD, MSCE, director of the Pediatric Headache Program and a pediatric neurologist at CHOP, serves as the coordinating principal investigator for an open-label, long-term extension study of the SPACE trial.

“Nearly every placebo-controlled trial of migraine therapy in kids has been negative, so a positive trial leading to FDA approval is a major win for our patients,” Szperka said.

Read the full announcement from Teva Pharmaceuticals.

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