Dive Brief:
- Use of Amgen's AMG 334 resulted in 3.4 fewer migraine days and 3.54 fewer headache days per month, on average, in chronic migraine sufferers (versus 2.28 fewer migraine days and 2.39 fewer headache days in the placebo arm, a difference about one extra migraine- or headache-less days).
- AMG 334 targets the CGRP receptor.
- By the end of this year, the candidate is expected to be in phase III trials.
Dive Insight:
According to the American Headache Society (AHS), migraine affects roughly 28 million Americans per year, inclding 21 million women and seven million men. While directs costs are in the $2.5 billion range, indirect costs, including absenteeism, add $13 billion per year to the overall burden. Since the 1990s, triptans have been the mainstay of treatment. But the AHS says that migraines are still largely undertreated.
The advent of a new class of migraine drugs bodes well for migraine sufferers and could very well shift the market significantly. Amgen is not the only company involved in developing CGRP-targeted migraine drugs. In fact, it will be taking on formidable opponents such as Alder, Teva, Lilly, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, and Boehringer Ingelheim.