A New Era for Migraine Treatment and CGRP antibodies

The World Health Organization’s disability rating for migraine ranks it as the 19th most common reason for disability.

According to the Migraine Trust Organization, Migraine is ranked as the 7th most disabling disease in the world (a cause for a loss of 2.9% of all years of life lost to disability/YLDs).

The Global Burden of Disease 2016 report labels migraine to be the third most common and second most debilitating disease.

Migraine is a highly prevalent headache disease affecting about 14% of the global population or one billion people worldwide. With one in five women suffering from migraine in their lifetime, compared to one man in 16, it typically affects the most productive years of life. It usually starts at puberty and mostly affects between 35 and 45 years, but it can trouble much younger generation, including children.

According to the Migraine Research Foundation, healthcare and lost productivity costs associated with migraine are estimated to be as high as USD 36 billion annually in the U.S. There is no known cause for migraine, although most people with migraine are genetically predisposed to it.

The new face of the Migraine treatment landscape 

There is an improvement in the understanding of the migraine pathophysiology. Improved characterization and diagnosis of the clinical features and the availability of severity-based medications to treat migraine have contributed in fuelling Migraine therapy market.

For effective Migraine treatment, the correct diagnosis and choice of treatment become imperative. Taking into account the severity and frequency of attacks, other symptoms, patient preference, history of treatment, and comorbid conditions, Migraine treatment has almost always relied on re-purposing medication. However, the past decade has experienced tremendous research to cure migraine and find breakthroughs in migraine therapy market.

One such novel way that has played a significant role in the march towards the goal is inflammatory neuropeptide Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP).

In May 2018, Aimovig (erenumab) became the first preventive treatment of migraine in adults. It blocks the calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor (CGRP-R), which is believed to play a critical role in migraine. Fremanezumab (Ajovy), Teva Pharmaceutical’s drug was approved in September 2018 for preventing migraine and became the second migraine drug targeting calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) to reach the market.

The migraine market is expected to grow in the coming years due to increasing female population and rise in the prevalence of migraine.

Organizations like the American Headache and Migraine Association are taking initiatives to spread awareness, and also various emerging treatments will undoubtedly boost the growth of the global migraine drug market in the forecast period.

Migraine Treatments and Unmet needs

The migraine field has recently been experiencing an outburst of novel, specifically-designed acute and preventive treatment methods, reflecting advances in the understanding of this disorder and better acknowledgement of its detrimental global impact on sufferers’ quality of lives.

After the recommendation of Erenumab and Fremanezumab, there lies a wide scope of more studies to fully understand the clinical potential, long-term safety, and cost-effectiveness of these therapies. There is a substantial unmet need in the current migraine treatment options that can be summarized into efficacy, tolerability issues, and lack of migraine-specific treatments besides the triptans. This will facilitate the development of treatments with the patients facing high unmet medical need.

Migraine Pipeline

Key pharma players, such as Axsome Therapeutics, IMPAX Laboratories, Inc., Impel NeuroPharma, Zosano Pharma Corporation, Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Allergan, and many others are investing themselves in developing Migraine therapies. The upcoming launch of Migraine emerging therapies, such as INP104 by Impel NeuroPharma, AXS-07 of Axsome Therapeutics, M207/ADAM Zolmitriptan under trials by Zosano Pharma Corporation, Rimegepant (Biohaven Pharmaceuticals), and Allergen’s Ubrogepant is anticipated to create a considerable increase in the Migraine market size in the upcoming years.