Novartis has presented new data showing Aimovig cuts acute migraine medication days by half in patients who have failed prior preventive therapies.
The results from the STRIVE trial are good news for Novartis and its co-marketer Amgen, who have established Aimovig (erenumab) as the leader in the new class of CGRP inhibitor migraine treatments.
Data from the active treatment phase of STRIVE looked at efficacy and safety of Aimovig (70 and 140 mg) in episodic migraine patients with prior preventive treatment failures.
Trial data shows that 55% of patients on Aimovig 140 mg experienced at least a 50% reduction in the number of monthly migraine days requiring acute medication at week 52.
The study found the total number of monthly migraine days (MMD) cut, as well as migraine-specific medication days (MSMD) for episodic migraine patients who have previously struggled to find effective and tolerable preventive therapies to prevent a migraine.
These results expand the potential scope of Aimovig’s use, and will consolidate its status as the most prescribed anti CGRP.
It has been prescribed to more than 220,000 patients worldwide since launch, and recorded $59m in sales in the first quarter of this year.
The data will be presented at the European Academy of Neurology’s (EAN) annual meeting in Oslo, Norway.
Other contenders in the class are Eli Lilly’s Emgality and Teva’s migraine prevention drug Ajovy.
Evaluate Pharma forecasts Aimovig to maintain its lead up to 2024, with estimated sales of $2.05bn that year. It predicts Emgality could hit $1.2bn by this time, with Ajovy forecast to reach $962m.
Lilly recently scored a success with FDA approval in the adjacent indication of cluster headaches.
However the successful launch of the drug has been overshadowed by a falling out between Novartis and Amgen.
In April, it emerged that Amgen was seeking to terminate its co-marketing agreement and seek damages from Novartis, claiming the Swiss pharma company was working with Alder Biopharmaceuticals on a potential rival to Aimovig.
Novartis dismisses this allegation, saying this alliance is no longer live, and claims Amgen is seeking to end the deal in order to reclaim complete control of the drug, including its global revenues.