Katharina Buczek
The drug lasmiditan, which is sold under the brand name Reyvow, is currently used as an acute migraine treatment among adults.
In 2019, its U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval was monumental– since other migraine drugs on the market had use limitations among patients with a history of prior heart attack, angina, or other vascular conditions.
Lasmiditan, on the other hand, worked without causing blood vessels to narrow.
And now, new research conducted by researchers from the University of Arizona has found that the drug may also be a promising treatment for acute kidney injury (AKI)– also known as acute renal failure (ARF).
According to the National Kidney Foundation, AKI is “a sudden episode of kidney failure or kidney damage that happens within a few hours or a few days.”
The disease causes waste products to build up in patients’ blood– making it difficult for the kidneys to maintain proper body fluid balance. This can also impact other organs, including the heart, brain, and lungs.
AKI occurs in between 8 to 16 percent of hospitalization cases– impacting over 13 million people around the globe.
The causes of the disease range from low blood pressure (known as hypotension), decreased heart function, and organ failure to severe allergic reactions and burns.
AKI can also lead to a number of physiological issues, including damage to kidney small blood vessels, the loss of renal tubular function, and mitochondrial dysfunction. Right now, there is also no treatment for the disease.
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