Benefits of powder-based formulations for migraine treatments vs orals

The migraine market has seen the introduction of a large number of highly effective monoclonal antibody (Mab) drugs for the prevention of the condition, leading to expectations for the overall therapy sector to grow from $4.7 billion in 2020 to $12 billion in 2030 across the seven major markets.

However, due to the growing popularity of new competing therapies for acute migraine treatment, novel reformulations of dihydroergotamine (DHE) such as Satsuma Pharmaceutical’s (Nasdaq: STSA) lead product STS101 and Pulmatrix’ (Nasdaq: PULM) PUR3100, which are both powder-based formulations, may struggle to find a competitive edge over oral gepants and oral ditans, says data and analytics company GlobalData.

The firm’s pharma analyst Christie Wong notes that “DHE is currently available as a nasal spray or for injection subcutaneously, intramuscularly, or intravenously. However, key opinion leaders (KOLs) previously interviewed by GlobalData noted that although DHE can reverse central sensitization and provide long-acting headache relief, it was rarely used due to its unfavorable side effect profile. Furthermore, the DHE liquid nasal sprays on the market have a burdensome administration process that does not always translate to migraine relief.”