Telcagepant

Telcagepant (INN) (code name MK-0974) is a calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonist which was an investigational drug for the acute treatment and prevention of migraine, developed by Merck & Co.

In the acute treatment of migraine, it was found to have equal efficacy to rizatriptan and zolmitriptan.

A Phase IIa clinical trial studying telcagepant for the prophylaxis of episodic migraine was stopped on March 26, 2009, after the "identification of two patients with significant elevations in serum transaminases". A memo to study locations stated that telcagepant had preliminarily been reported to increase the hepatic liver enzyme alanine transaminase (ALT) levels in "11 out of 660 randomized (double-blinded) study participants." All study participants were told to stop taking the medication.

In July 2011, Merck announced that it had discontinued development of telcagepant.