Emgality Injection: Uses, Dosage, Side Effects, Precautions and Alternates

Quick overview

Emgality Injection contains galcanezumab-gnlm, a calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) antagonist. It is a prescription injection used in adults to prevent migraine attacks and to treat episodic cluster headaches. It works by blocking a protein linked to headache pain. It is given as a monthly injection under the skin.

What is Emgality Injection

Emgality is a prescription injection medicine used in adults to prevent migraine attacks and to treat episodic cluster headaches. It contains the active ingredient galcanezumab-gnlm, a lab-made antibody that blocks a protein linked to headache pain.

Emgality Injection uses

• Preventive treatment of migraine in adults, including both episodic and chronic migraine
• Treatment of episodic cluster headache in adults

Benefits of Emgality Injection

• Can help reduce the number of migraine days per month
• Can help reduce the number of cluster headache attacks
• May help people who have not been helped enough by, or cannot tolerate, other migraine medicines

How Emgality Injection works

Emgality is a lab-made antibody that attaches to a protein called CGRP, stopping it from binding to its receptors in the brain. CGRP is linked to inflammation and widening of blood vessels in the brain, which can cause headache pain, so blocking it helps prevent migraine attacks and treat cluster headaches.

Emgality Injection dosage

Emgality is given as an injection under the skin (subcutaneous injection) that you or a caregiver can learn to do at home after being shown by your doctor or nurse. It can be injected into the stomach area, front of the thighs, back of the upper arm, or buttocks.

For migraine prevention, the first dose is two injections given one after the other, followed by one injection once a month. For cluster headache treatment, each dose is three injections given one after the other, once a month until the cluster period ends. It can be taken with or without food.

Let a refrigerated syringe or pen warm up at room temperature for about 30 minutes before injecting; do not warm it with hot water, sunlight, or a microwave. Do not shake the medicine before use. Do not inject into skin that is hard, red, bruised, or tender.

Each prefilled syringe or pen is for one use only and should be thrown away after use, even if some medicine is left. Emgality is not approved for use in children or anyone younger than 18 years old.

If you miss a dose, give yourself the dose as soon as you remember, then resume your monthly schedule from that date; do not use two doses at once to make up for a missed one.

Available forms and strengths

• Single-dose prefilled pen (120 mg/mL solution)

Side effects of Emgality Injection

Common

• Pain, redness, itching, or swelling where the medicine was injected
• Skin discoloration at the injection site

Serious

• Severe allergic reaction, which can occur days after an injection (swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat; trouble breathing; hives; skin rash)
• Severe constipation, sometimes with serious complications requiring hospitalization or surgery
• High blood pressure or worsening of existing high blood pressure
• Raynaud's phenomenon (fingers or toes becoming numb, cool, painful, or changing color from pale to blue to red)

Warnings and precautions

• Do not use Emgality if you have had a serious allergic reaction to it in the past.
• Emgality can cause severe constipation with serious complications, including hospitalization or surgery in some cases.
• Emgality can cause high blood pressure or make existing high blood pressure worse.
• Emgality can cause or worsen Raynaud's phenomenon, affecting circulation in the fingers and toes.
• Injecting multiple doses can increase the risk of injection site reactions, and allergic people may have a more severe reaction.
• It is not known for certain whether Emgality is safe during pregnancy. Animal studies showed no harm, but this does not guarantee safety in humans. Talk with your doctor if you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, and consider joining the pregnancy registry if you take Emgality while pregnant.
• It is not known whether Emgality passes into breast milk. Talk with your doctor about the risks and benefits of breastfeeding while using this medicine; you may need to stop breastfeeding.
• Emgality is not broken down by the liver like most other migraine medicines, so it generally does not interact with other drugs processed there.
• There is no known interaction between Emgality and alcohol, but alcohol can trigger migraine attacks in some people and may seem to make headaches worse.

Storage

• Store in a refrigerator between 36°F and 46°F (2°C and 8°C)
• Do not freeze
• May be stored out of the refrigerator in the original carton at temperatures up to 86°F (30°C) for up to 7 days
• Once removed from the refrigerator, do not put it back in the refrigerator
• Keep in the original carton to protect it from light until time of use
• Do not shake
• Throw away the medicine if any of these storage conditions are not followed
• Keep out of the reach of children
• Dispose of used needles safely, such as in a sharps disposal container
• If you have leftover medicine you no longer need, dispose of it safely rather than throwing it in household trash; ask your pharmacist for guidance

When to see a doctor

• Get emergency medical help right away if you notice swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat, or trouble breathing — these may be signs of a serious allergic reaction.
• Contact your doctor if you have severe constipation or constipation with severe or constant belly pain, vomiting, swelling of the belly, or bloating.
• Contact your doctor if you notice your blood pressure has increased.
• Contact your doctor if your fingers or toes become numb, cool, painful, or change color.
• If you think you have received too much of this medicine, get emergency medical help or contact a poison control center right away; if symptoms are severe, seek emergency care immediately.

Alternatives

• Aimovig
• Ajovy
• Qulipta