Strengthening migraine literacy at the New Zealand Nurse Practitioner Conference 2026
The New Zealand Nurse Practitioner Conference 2026 was a valuable opportunity for Migraine Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand to connect with nurse practitioners and share the most-up-date information, resources and best practice guidelines. An estimated 400 nurse practitioners attended the biannual conference, held at QT Rydge’s Queenstown, 17–19 June 2026. About 140 nurse practitioners made a […]
Growing understanding of migraine highlighted at Rotorua GPCME 2026
Migraine Foundation was back for our second year exhibiting at the Rotorua General Practice Conference & Medical Exhibition (GPCME) this month, with an education stand at the 3-day conference. The 2026 Rotorua GPCME was attended by over 1,000 healthcare professionals working within primary care, held at the Rotorua Energy Events Centre from 11–14 June 2026. […]
Art and Pain exhibition raises funds for migraine
Despite temperamental winter weather, including a thunderstorm and torrential rain, Wellingtonians braved the elements to visit the inaugural Art and Pain exhibition at Thistle Hall Gallery on 2-7 June. This featured works from art therapist Mara Elwood, who lives with chronic migraine and uses her impressive creative skills to describe, reflect on and help manage […]
Pharmac consultation on possible brand changes
Each year, Pharmac gives pharmaceutical suppliers the opportunity to bid for being the ‘main supplier’ (up to 95%) for a range of medicines. This is called the ‘annual tender’ and means that a medicine currently supplied by one company may switch to a different branded product (e.g. the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen in the past […]
Medicines are an investment not a burden – new report
A new report on the issues around access to innovative medicines in New Zealand was launched at Parliament on March 3rd by Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour, hosted by ACT MP Todd Stephenson. This was attended by several patient group representatives including Fiona Imlach from Migraine Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand. The report was based on […]
Struggled to see a neurologist in New Zealand? Here are some reasons why
Many people with chronic, complex or difficult-to-treat migraine could benefit from being seen by a neurologist. Although GPs can manage many people with migraine, when they’ve gone through the recommended list of treatments and things are still not right, it’s reassuring to have a specialist who can confirm that migraine is the cause, consider alternative […]
Migraine Foundation will be at Pasifika Festival 2026
The Migraine Foundation team is delighted to be a stallholder at the 2026 Pasifika Festival in March. This is the first time we’re attending the event, which is on 14–15 March at Western Springs, Auckland. Thanks to a generous grant from Aoteoroa Gaming Trust, we’ll have our patient trifold brochure available in six languages – […]
Lasmiditan – the migraine drug we didn’t even get to try
The best medications we currently have to treat migraine attacks are the triptans. In Aotearoa New Zealand, we have two of these: sumatriptan and rizatriptan. But although these can be very effective if taken early in an attack, they don’t work for everyone. And some people can’t take them because they constrict blood vessels, which […]
Fremanezumab (Ajovy) now available in New Zealand
The start of 2026 marks further progress for access to calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) medications for Kiwis, with the launch of fremanezumab (Ajovy) in New Zealand this month. Ajovy is the fourth anti-CGRP medication now available in New Zealand. Like the other two injectable CGRP monoclonal antibody medications (Emgality and Aimovig), Ajovy is administered by […]
Nurse and pharmacist prescribers can now prescribe new migraine medications
Registered nurse and pharmacist prescribers can now prescribe the new migraine medications galcanezumab (Emgality), erenumab (Aimovig), fremanezumab (Ajovy) and atogepant (Aquipta). All of these are used to prevent migraine and work by targeting calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a neurotransmitter implicated in causing migraine attacks. These medications were added to the lists of prescription medicines for […]
