What is the difference between rizatriptan and sumatriptan?

Rizatriptan and sumatriptan are two examples of medications that are used to treat headaches, especially a type called migraine. Rizatriptan and sumatriptan belong to the same class of drugs known as triptans. While there other members of this class, sumatriptan was the first to be produced. Other types like almotriptan, eletriptan, rizatriptan were produced after sumatriptan. Their mechanism of action is one of the things that can be used to differentiate the two.

When you take sumatriptan, it usually takes a lot of time before it mixes with the bloodstream. Rizatriptan does not take too much time like sumatriptan, and that is why it works very faster compared to sumatriptan. For example, rizatriptan usually takes about 60 minutes to get absorbed into the bloodstream, while sumatriptan takes more than that. Sumatriptan has a sulfur group in its composition, while rizatriptan does not contain any sulfur group. The sulfur group in sumatriptan usually leads to some kind of adverse reaction in the body.