Aims Analgesics are the most widely used medicines worldwide. In parallel, opioid abuse has increased and is of major concern. The accessibility of pharmacologically powerful medicines and the addictovigilance signals in France about the risk of opiates addiction call for an overview of analgesic use. The objective of this study was to investigate the use of analgesics reimbursed in France over a 10‐year period through its prevalence. Methods A cross‐sectional study repeated yearly was conducted by using data from the French reimbursement database from 2006 to 2015. Analgesics were classified according to their pharmacological potency: prevalence of use for each category and sociodemographic characteristics of patients treated were analysed. Results The annual prevalence of analgesic use was high and increased during the study period (59.8%, 253 976 users in 2015). In 2015, prevalence was always higher in women and increased with age, except for those older than 84 years. Peripheral analgesics were the most used (55.3%, 234 739 users). The prevalence of weak analgesic use decreased (21.3%, 90 257 users), mainly due to the definitive withdrawal of dextropropoxyphene in France in 2011, which was not offset by an increase in the consumption of other weak analgesics. For strong analgesics (1.2%, 5129 users), morphine was the most widely used, with a dramatic increase in oxycodone use, especially in the elderly. Conclusion The prevalence of analgesic use is high: approximately 31 million adults had at least 1 analgesic reimbursed in 2015. The most widely used analgesics were peripheral analgesics, far ahead of opioid analgesics.

Monoclonal antibodies acting on the calcitonin gene-related peptide or its receptor (CGRP-mabs) are novel drugs indicated for the prophylaxis of migraine. They can be used in adults reporting at least four migraine days per month and with previous failure of at least two preventive drugs for migraine. To date, four CGRP-mabs are available: one targeting the CGRP receptor (erenumab) and three targeting the CGRP peptide (galcanezumab, fremanezumab, and eptinezumab). Thanks to their prolonged inhibition of the CGRP effect, they prevent the occurrence of migraine attacks. 1 Their half-life is about 28 days, allowing one subcutaneous injection per month.CGRP receptors are expressed in the trigeminal ganglion neurons, which play a key role in migraine physiopathology by modulating the nociceptive signal, 2 although CGRP receptors are also ubiquitous. CGRP is the most potent vasodilator peptide known, and its inhibition has been theoretically considered dangerous in patients with vascular diseases. It acts via perivascular innervation from the adventitia to medial layers of blood vessels, in particular at arterial level. 3 Its inhibition could thus reduce the vasodilatation