Migraine is one of the most common disorders in young to middle-aged adults and often leads to a significant impairment in quality of life. Despite good treatment options, patients in Germany do not always receive therapy tailored to their individual situation. A new project, in which the Institute for Information Systems at Hof University (iisys) and the spin-off smartlytic GmbH are also involved, aims to change this. Starting on March 1, 2026, a total of 1,000 patients will be enrolled in the project over the next 1.5 years.
The Joint Federal Committee (G-BA) is funding the innovation fund project “MIGRA-MD – Structured Specialist Migraine Care – Multimodal and Digital” by LMU Hospital Munich and the German Migraine and Headache Society (DMKG) as well as other project partners with over €5 million.”Digital possibilities can significantly advance headache care,” says PD Dr. Ruth Ruscheweyh, DMKG Presidium member and head of the project consortium at LMU Hospital Munich.
Closing gaps in migraine care
The goal: MIGRA-MD aims to close gaps in migraine care with digital tools, multimodal learning modules, and improved guideline-based treatment decisions. In the project, participating specialists are trained by the DMKG in migraine treatment. In the DMKG headache registry’s physician portal, they receive a clear overview of the information entered in advance by patients, as well as checklists for guideline-based diagnosis and drug therapy. “With this kind of data, treatment can definitely be more targeted,” says Ruscheweyh.
Digital support for patients
Migraine sufferers participating in the study document their headaches digitally using the DMKG app and a headache questionnaire. They attend three treatment appointments with participating specialists. At the same time, they use the MIGRA-MD Wissen online platform, which offers short videos and audio clips about migraine, aggravating factors, and treatment options. Instructions for non-drug migraine prevention are also available there, for example on stress reduction, relaxation techniques, and exercise therapy. These materials were developed by experts specifically for MIGRA-MD. In addition, participants are regularly offered online “Meet the Expert” events on headache topics, followed by a question and answer session. PD Dr. Lars Neeb, President of the DMKG, is convinced: “When sufferers are well informed about their condition and the treatment options available, they are more likely to take action themselves and the therapy becomes more effective. We developed MIGRA-MD Wissen specifically for this purpose.”
Digital infrastructure from Hof
The Institute for Information Systems (iisys) at Hof University of Applied Sciences and smartlytic GmbH, a spin-off of the university, are playing a central role in the project. The scientists were responsible for the design and implementation of all the necessary software components. The existing DMKG app and the doctor portal were expanded, and the portal for recruiting patients and the “MIGRA-MD Wissen” portal for managing videos and audio files were created. The project team from Hof is thus contributing its expertise in the areas of digital health applications and data management.
“With MIGRA-MD, we combine medical guideline expertise with modern data analysis. Our aim is to process the data generated in everyday healthcare in such a way that it provides doctors with concrete, practical support,” explains Prof. Dr. Jörg Scheidt from iisys at Hof University of Applied Sciences. The team pays particular attention to data protection and sustainable technical architecture so that successful project components can be transferred to standard care in the future. “We are proud to be working here in collaboration with high-caliber project partners such as LMU Munich and the university hospitals in Rostock and Dresden. Our collaboration with LMU Munich and the German Migraine and Headache Society (DMKG) alone has now been going on for eight years,” Prof. Scheidt continues.
Hosting, maintenance, and technical operation of all components are carried out by smartlytic GmbH. “These components are based on the well-known DMKG Headache Registry (www.kopfschmerzregister.de). We are delighted that our young company has once again been able to successfully cooperate with the Analytical Information Systems research group at Hof University,” said Prof. Dr. Dirk Reinel, Managing Director of smartlytic GmbH. “The project offers the opportunity to show how digitization in healthcare can contribute to improving care in concrete terms – not only in the model project, but also across the board in the future.”
The close cooperation between the university, the spin-off, and medical partners has created an interdisciplinary innovation network that combines scientific excellence with practical implementation.
Patient recruitment starts on March 1
Participation, including follow-up observation, will last a total of 13 months. Patients will be randomly divided into two groups, with one group starting treatment immediately and the other starting three months later. Patients will be enrolled in the program starting March 1, 2026.
The platform https://mitmachen.migra-md.de
provides information about the project and uses a questionnaire to assess the suitability of interested parties. Adults with migraine who have statutory health insurance, experience between four and 25 headache days per month, and have tried no more than two migraine prophylactic medications without success are eligible to participate. Those who are eligible to participate will be contacted by a study assistant and a study physician from the LMU Clinic, given detailed information about the study, and enrolled in the study if they meet all inclusion criteria.
Transfer to standard care
If the evaluation of MIGRA-MD shows a sustained improvement in headache frequency and impairment in everyday life, a transfer to standard care may be recommended.
The MIGRA-MD project partners
The consortium is led by LMU Hospital Munich. The consortium partners are:
- DMKG e.V.
- the Institute for Community Medicine at Greifswald University Hospital
- the Institute for Information Systems at Hof University
- smartlytic GmbH
- Rostock University Medical Center
- The Professional Association of German Neurologists
- The Coordination Center for Clinical Studies at Dresden University of Technology
- as well as the consortium funds BARMER and AOK Bayern.
- MigräneLiga e.V. supports the project as a cooperation partner.
