Amgen to maintain its dominance in migraine prevention space with Aimovig launch, says analyst

US biotech major Amgen’s (Nasdaq: AMGN) Aimovig (erenumab) is forecast to be the top-selling drug in the migraine market by 2026, generating nearly $1.4 billion in sales in the seven major markets (7MM USA, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, and Japan), new research finds.

Aimovig was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of migraine; it was scheduled to launch in the USA in May 2018, securing the first-to-market position within a new class of drugs for migraine, the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonists. Although Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE: TEVA), Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) and Alder BioPharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ALDR) are closely following Amgen with their respective anti-CGRPs, Amgen is expected to maintain its dominance in the preventative migraine space.

According to data and analytics company GlobalData’s report ‘ PharmaPoint: Migraine’, besides being the first and only monoclonal antibody specifically designed to prevent migraines, Aimovig is also the only fully-human monoclonal antibody - in contrast, Teva’s fremanezumab, Lilly’s galcanezumab, and Alder’s eptinezumab anti-CGRPs are humanized - and as such, Aimovig may be viewed as a safer and the preferable option to physicians.