AbbVie's Qulipta set to become blockbuster in the migraine market

US drugmaker AbbVie’s (NYSE: ABBV) Qulipta (atogepant) recently became the first and only oral calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist (gepant) specifically developed for the preventive treatment of migraine approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

The market for oral prophylactic treatments to reduce the number of migraine days holds great potential says GlobalData. The data and analytics company anticipates that Qulipta will launch in the European Union in first-quarter 2023 and forecasts that it will generate global sales of $1.2 billion by 2027.

“Beta adrenergic receptor blockers, calcium antagonists, antidepressants, and anti-epileptics are all drug classes to reduce the number of monthly migraine days. Many of these drugs have a poor efficacy profile and are associated with adverse events. While monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against CGRP have been marketed for migraine prophylaxis and present an effective preventive treatment of migraine, however, some patients do not respond well to the MAbs or have a needle phobia,” commented GlobalData Pharma analyst Christie Wong.