Amgen Migraine Drug Winning the Race to Market

Sept. 30, 2016

It appears likely that the Amgen/Novartis team will beat Eli Lilly, Alder Biopharma and Teva Pharmaceuticals to market with an antibody-blocking migraine med, after Amgen announced positive Phase 3 trial results, says IBD analysts.

Amgen recently announced that its migraine drug, AMG-334 (erenumab), cut episodic migraines by 2.9 days per month vs. a 1.8-day reduction for patients treated with the placebo.

The drug was administered at 70-mgs monthly for 12 weeks and a second Phase 3 study is ongoing, examining 70-mg and 140-mg doses for 24 weeks.

According to FierceBiotech, Lilly is testing its CGRP drug in two Phase III episodic migraine studies that are due to end in June 2017, the same month Alder plans to end late-stage trial of its rival program. Teva has estimated an October 2017 end date for its Phase III trial.