BOTOX® vs. XEOMIN® for Chronic Migraine

Chronic migraine (CM) is a disabling disorder that sidelines active duty personnel and diminishes their quality of life. It affects 1.3% to 2.4% of the general population. These numbers increase in active duty personnel, especially those returning from deployment, as well as in veterans. Furthermore, these numbers are 4-5 times higher in military members who experienced at least one mild traumatic brain injury. CM leads to impaired cognition and poor decision-making. These impairments on critical active duty tasks could have a significant impact on task readiness and military performance. Therefore, CM presents a challenge for the "return to duty" mission. Currently, onabotulinumtoxinA is the only FDA-approved prophylactic treatment for CM; however, this treatment requires refrigeration, to which there is little access for the forward-deployed members who have limited access to adequate storage for this treatment. Therefore, it is imperative to identify a CM treatment that does not require refrigeration. Furthermore, in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and resulting international shortages in critical medication production and delivery, it is imperative to identify more than one treatment option for the management of CM. In this study, we will test the efficacy of incobotulinumtoxinA, a neurotoxin that, unlike onabotulinumtoxinA, does not require refrigeration, but is an effective off-label alternative for the treatment of migraine. OnabotulinumtoxinA and incobotulinumtoxinA are comparable in strength, with a conversion ratio of 1:1.