Amgen, Novartis Report Positive Data for Migraine Drug

Amgen and Novartis are one step closer to having a contender in the migraine treatment space.

Both companies reported on Wednesday that patients diagnosed with episodic migraines taking their investigational therapy, erenumab, reported fewer debilitating headaches per month compared to the participants taking placebo, according to Endpoints News.

Investigators running this second randomized late-stage study recruited 955 patients for this test who on average experienced 8.3 migraine days each month. Patients were administered either 70mg or 140mg of the drug once a month for a six month period.

Both dosing regimens elicited statistically significant results. The 70mg and 140mg treatment of erenumab lowered the average number of migraine days suffered by these groups down to 3.2 and 3.7 days respectively while the placebo recipients only experienced 1.8 day reduction.

These results in conjunction with previous tests evaluating the drug’s impact on chronic migraine sufferers will help these pharmaceutical companies make their case for regulatory approval.

Other companies like Allergan and Eli Lilly are developing their own migraine treatments as well.

However, Amgen and Novartis are hoping to distinguish themselves in this market because their candidate blocks the Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP) receptor, which is believed to play a role in causing migraines. Rival therapies only focus on the ligand.

Analysts predict this drug could have blockbuster potential pulling in $1.3 billion in sales by 2023, explained Endpoints News.