Electrical Skin Patch Clears Migraine Headaches

A disposable skin patch uses a mild electrical current to alleviate acute migraines (with or without aura) in adult patients.

The Zecuity patch delivers sumatriptan succinate—the most-prescribed migraine headache drug—via an iontophoretic transdermal system (TDS) that slowly delivers the medicine through the skin. The patch is not intended for people with risk factors for heart disease (HD), including those with a family history of HD, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, as well as people who smoke, are overweight, or have diabetes. It is also not recommended for women who have gone through menopause and men over age 40.


The patch is applied to the upper arm or thigh and activated by pressing a button; the button will blink and then turn solid red as it releases the medicine. The TDS patch should be worn for four hours or until the light goes off, and once depleted, it should be gently removed and thrown away. A new TDS patch can be immediately applied to a different site, if needed. The Zecuity TDS patch is a product of NuPathe (Conshohocken, PA, USA), and has been approved by the US Food and drug Administration (FDA).

“We anticipate the product will be available for sale in the fourth quarter of this year. We’re right now in conversations with a number of people for partnership in the United States,” said Armando Anido, CEO of NuPathe, who declined to say how much the patch would cost, but indicated it would be comparable to the USD 95 that a similar medication costs as an injection.

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