Its molecule is well known and already used in medicine.
This is a major hope for people who experience debilitating headaches. On July 9, 2026, the French pharmaceutical laboratory Ipsen announced results which could mark a turning point in the treatment of migraine, a disease which affects around 11 million French people. The molecule highlighted is not unknown: it is Dysport®, a botulinum toxin already used for more than 30 years in other indications. A world first for a substance of this type.
To achieve this, the laboratory carried out two large studies focusing on “1,510 patients in 120 centers”to measure whether Dysport® reduced the number of migraine days per month. The results are positive, particularly for episodic migraine, the most common form. Dysport® becomes in fact “the first botulinum toxin to demonstrate, in episodic migraine, a statistically significant reduction in the number of migraine days per month”according to the Ipsen press release. A major advance, because until now only chronic migraine, the most severe, could be treated with a toxin. For Christelle Huguet, Global Director of R&D at Ipsen, “These results position Dysport as a potentially first-in-class treatment for a broad population of migraine patients.”.
But what exactly is this toxin? Behind its barbaric scientific name, abobotulinumtoxinA, hides a molecule well known to the general public: it is the same family as the famous Botox®, used in aesthetics to smooth wrinkles. This substance, “produced from bacteria of the genus Clostridium”acts as a brake on the nerves: injected in low doses, it “inhibits the effective transmission of nerve impulses and thus reduces muscle contractions”. In the case of migraine, it would cut short the triggering mechanisms of the attacks. This product is therefore far from being experimental, since it combines “more than 21 million patient years of treatment”.
This treatment could improve the quality of life of migraine sufferers, whose illness is very far from a simple temporary headache. Migraine is a “complex neurological disease” Who “would affect approximately 14% of the world’s population”with “recurrent throbbing headaches” (those pains that beat in the skull), but also “nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light, noise, touch and smells”. She “can be particularly debilitating”disturbing “often their ability to work as well as to organize or enjoy their social life”. Marie-Victoria told us she was experiencing such pain that she could “bang your head against the wall”. The episodic form, defined by “up to 14 days of headache per month, including at least 6 days of migraine”concerns a much larger population than the chronic form, hence the importance of this announcement.
The treatment appears to be well tolerated, with “a security profile consistent with the security profile already established”. In the meantime, certain methods validated by doctors, such as using hair clips on the face, can relieve pain. When will this treatment be available? At this stage, these are only preliminary results, and “the detailed results of the BEOND program will be presented at a future scientific conference”. No marketing or reimbursement date in France has yet been announced.
