Migraine treatment shows promise for glaucoma prevention

Treatment with CGRP inhibitors, a class of drugs used to prevent migraine, appears to be associated with a reduced risk of glaucoma, researchers reported on May 6, 2026 in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness, and evidence has linked migraine with an increased risk of glaucoma, with both conditions affecting the capacity of the blood vessels in the brain to alter blood flow in response to stimuli,” said study author Chien-Hsiang Weng, MD, MPH, of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. “Since CGRP inhibitors help regulate blood vessel contraction and inflammation in the nervous system, there has been hope that these drugs could benefit eye health in people at risk of glaucoma.”

For this retrospective study investigators enrolled adults diagnosed with migraine who had, in 2018–2024, been treated with migraine preventive drugs known as calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) inhibitors.

They matched 36,822 subjects who took (CGRP) inhibitors to an equal number of subjects who were treated with other types of migraine prevention drugs.

The drugs in the CGRP inhibitor group were erenumab, fremanezumab, galcanezumab, eptinezumab, atogepant and rimegepant. The drugs in the non-CRGP inhibitor group were valproate, topiramate, flunarizine, candesartan, lisinopril, metoprolol, propranolol, nadolol, amitriptyline and venlafaxine.

The subjects were followed for up to three years to see who developed glaucoma.

A total of 73,644 subjects were included in the final analysis.

During the study period, 153 subjects, (0.42%), in the CGRP inhibitor cohort developed glaucoma, compared to 223 subjects (0.61%) in the non-CGRP inhibitor cohort.

After adjusting the data for age, migraine frequency and history of high blood pressure, the investigators reported that subjects treated with CGRP inhibitors had achieved a 25% lower risk of developing glaucoma than those taking other migraine drugs.

Notably, the researchers also reported that the reduced risk of glaucoma only appeared in CGRP inhibitors using monoclonal antibodies– erenumab, fremanezumab, galcanezumab and eptinezumab. The reduced risk was not found with the CGRP receptor antagonists (or gepants), atogepant and rimegepant.

The authors concluded, “Among adults with migraine receiving preventive treatment, systemic use of CGRPi, particularly monoclonal antibody CGRPi, is associated with a reduced risk of glaucoma compared with the use of other migraine preventive medications.”