Introduction

The good that medicines do is easily forgotten as we become concerned with their potential adverse events. and so it is with sumatriptan. I welcome you to this 10 year celebration of sumatriptan in the treatment of patients with migraine and cluster headache. It is a true United Nations effort today. We have representatives from my home country Australia, from Canada, from many European countries and of course from the United States.

Going into headache research was once considered a mild form of psychopathy. It was fortunate that the young scientist Dr Patrick Humphrey could be convinced to move into this field, for it is the results of his insights, perspicacity and dedication as leader of the team that he assembled that we acknowledge and celebrate today.

We are the lucky generation of headache physicians; not only do we know more than ever before but there are many useful therapies that we can offer. In the last decade we became aware of genetic mutations in the field of migraine and will soon understand the very nature of the manipulations of body proteins responsible for many of the diseases we see. Regarding imaging, patients have wanted us to show them where the problem is, while physicians ask about the visible concomitants of the migraine attack; the work from the Essen group is starting to give us answers to these questions. and then there is the recurrent problem of classification. Physicians have hitherto defined headache syndromes subjectively or empirically, but the International Headache Society Classification Committee has constructed good operational criteria by consensus, so we all speak the same language in talking abut headaches. The advances in headache epidemiology represent a positive story but it is depressing that more patients do not get consultations or, when they do, do not get treated properly. Perhaps this is one of the biggest challenges — or better, opportunities — that lies before us in this period after the Decade of the Brain.

So today we are going to discuss headache and celebrate the things that we can do for patients that suffer them. We have a distinguished panel that is going to discuss a wide range of issues, starting with the development of sumatriptan from Professor Humphrey. Next, Michel Ferrari will speak about sumatriptan injections, Carl Dahlöf about tablets and suppositories and Alan Rapoport about the nasal spray. The role of sumatriptan in cluster headache will be the topic of Professor Hans-Christoph Diener, and we will have questions at the end of his presentation.

It is exciting to be able to treat people in neurology — a discipline that once was thought to allow clinicians only to diagnose and walk away. That is not true any more because we are in the therapeutic vanguard and the management of migraine is but one example. I hope that we can move from this last 10 years to the next 10 years in partnership with industry, not only taking migraine forward but taking all headaches forward too. There are billions of people with headache and they all need to be managed properly.

Now to introduce Professor Patrick Humphrey. Most of us make very small contributions to humanity, and very few people can say that thousands benefit daily from their work. Pat Humphrey can, because all over the world people are benefiting from his application of the scientific method to the clinical problem of migraine. I have enormous respect for him and for what he did. He is going to talk to you about how he did it. Professor Humphrey.