New Migraine Drugs Could Spark Value-Based Contracting

by Jane Anderson

Therapy for chronic migraine — a condition that's been notoriously difficult to treat and which often leads to significant direct and indirect health care costs — has been upended with the recent approval of three injectable monoclonal antibody products in a new preventive medication class that's significantly more effective than older preventive migraine drugs, a researcher says.

These new calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) inhibitors — Amgen, Inc. and Novartis AG's Aimovig (erenumab), Teva Pharmaceuticals' Ajovy (fremanezumab) and Eli Lilly and Co.'s Emgality (galcanezumab) — also may usher in an era of value-based contracting for migraine products, with plan sponsors willing to pay more to get better results, Machaon Bonafede, Ph.D., outcomes research practice leader at IBM Watson Health, told attendees Oct. 23 at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus annual meeting.

"Prior to the approval of CGRPs, migraine preventive therapy was characterized by poor treatment persistence and medication, frankly, because of use of products that were never developed for or intended to treat migraine," Bonafede said.

Express Scripts Holding Co. already has inked a value-based deal for two of the three drugs in the new migraine class. The PBM's new SafeGuardRx Migraine Care Value program, which starts April 1, will cover Aimovig and Emgality. It will include a comprehensive clinical care program with access to CGRP inhibitors. In addition, Express Scripts is offering what's in effect a money-back guarantee for plan sponsors when a patient discontinues therapy in the first 90 days.

According to Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), it is reasonable for payers to develop prior authorization criteria to ensure prudent use of CGRP inhibitors. ICER also urged drug manufacturers to exercise restraint in pricing and price negotiation so that net prices for the new therapies align with added benefits.

These new medications have the potential to remake migraine treatment, the direct and indirect costs of which have been estimated at $36 billion annually in the U.S., Bonafede said. Indirect costs — such as lost productivity — can be difficult to capture and quantify, he added.

From Health Plan Weekly