(Reuters) -AbbVie said on Wednesday its migraine drug met the main goal and was superior to a widely used generic treatment in a head-to head late-stage trial. The U.S. drugmaker has been expanding and banking on its neuroscience portfolio after its blockbuster arthritis drug Humira began facing competition from several less expensive biosimilar versions. The […]
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AbbVie’s migraine drug meets main goal in head-to-head study with topiramate
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(Reuters) -AbbVie said on Wednesday its migraine drug met the main goal and was superior to a widely used generic treatment in a head-to head late-stage trial.
The U.S. drugmaker has been expanding and banking on its neuroscience portfolio after its blockbuster arthritis drug Humira began facing competition from several less expensive biosimilar versions.
The study’s main goal was for the company’s drug Qulipta, also known as Aquipta in Europe, to show a lower discontinuation rate due to undesired effect from the treatment than topiramate.
Qulipta was stopped in 12.1% of patients, compared to 29.6% for the generic at 24 weeks.
The European Medicines Agency’s safety committee had in 2023 recommended pregnant women not use topiramate-containing medicines to prevent migraine or manage their body weight as their newborns could have a higher risk of neurodevelopmental disorders.
AbbVie’s study also met all secondary goals, with 64.1% patients on Qulipta seeing a 50% or more reduction in the average number of days per month when they experience migraine headaches. In comparison, 39.3% patients on topiramate saw a similar reduction.
Qulipta, first approved in the United States in 2021, brought in $658 million in international sales last year.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy and Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)