Following today’s news (30 March) that the FDA has accepted AbbVie’s new drug application for atogepant for the preventive treatment of migraine;

Christie Wong, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company offers her view:

“If approved, atogepant will be the first and only oral CGRP receptor antagonist specifically developed to reduce the mean number of migraine days for patients and will be launched as a preventative treatment. GlobalData anticipates good uptake for atogepant, forecasting annual global revenue of $766m in 2026.

“Atogepant is expected to face considerable competition from CGRP monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), most notably Amgen’s erenumab, Eli Lilly’s galcanezumab, Teva’s fremanezumab, and Alder’s eptinezumab. While these drugs address the need for effective prophylactic treatments, they are expected to be expensive, which may act as a barrier to uptake. Atogepant, could have a competitive advantage given that can be administered orally, which may be preferred by patients and also be more cost-effective than the mAbs.

“AbbVie is strong contender in the migraine market given its production of treatment options including Botox (onabotulinumtoxin A), and Ubrelvy (ubrogepant). The potential approval of atogepant will allow the company to expand its migraine portfolio.”