Triptans are a family of tryptamine-based drugs used as abortive medication in the treatment of migraines and cluster headaches. This drug class was first introduced in the 1990s. While effective at treating individual headaches, they do not provide preventative treatment and are not considered a cure. They are not effective for the treatment of tension headache or other kinds of pain.

The drugs of this class act as agonists for serotonin 5-HT1B and 5-HT1D receptors at blood vessels and nerve endings in the brain. The first clinically available triptan was sumatriptan, which has been marketed since 1991.

Triptans were most commonly overused drugs among patients with migraine. Fairly frequent overuse of combination-analgesics for migraine should raise concern ¹⁾.