Pharma industry may have a fix for migraines
By David Wainer, BloombergBusiness
Some wear sunglasses indoors, apply cold vinegar compresses or chew on ginger. Others sit in the dark for days. But there’s one thing most migraine sufferers agree on: the pharma industry has failed them.
Four drugmakers are working to fix that by bringing to market the first generation of drugs developed to prevent migraines. The products, designed to target a peptide known to touch off the pain attacks, all have blockbuster potential.
An early look at the drugs Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Amgen Inc., Eli Lilly & Co., and Alder Biopharmaceuticals have developed shows they work for about half of migraine victims tested, snuffing out some of the episodes that wreck their lives. The drugmakers are racing to cash in on a market that analysts say is worth between $4 billion and $8 billion and relieve the recurring spells that cost the U.S. economy an estimated $13 billion a year in lost work productivity.