Lilly's (LLY) Migraine Drug Fails Vis-a-Vis Pfizer's Nurtec ODT
Eli Lilly LLY announced that the phase IV CHALLENGE-MIG study, evaluating the efficacy and safety of its migraine drug Emgality against Pfizer‘s PFE Nurtec ODT, failed to meet primary endpoint of statistical superiority in achieving at least 50% reduction in monthly migraine headache days.
Emgality performed numerically better than Pfizer’s Nurtec ODT on key secondary endpoints of the CHALLENGE-MIG study.
Per management, the response rates were similar following treatment with both drugs.
Lilly stated that the treatment with Emgality exhibited clinically meaningful efficacy and safety during the treatment tenure, which was consistent with studies previously conducted on the drug.
Shares of Eli Lilly have increased 22.4% so far this year compared with the industry’s 2.0% rise.
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The CHALLENGE-MIG study is a post-approval study that evaluated Emgality against Nurtec ODT in the prevention of episodic migraine in 580 adults over a three-month period. The study randomized patients to receive either four injections of 120mg Emgality or 45 oral tablets of Nurtec ODT during the treatment period.
Emgality was approved by the FDA in 2018 for the preventive treatment of migraine in adults. Lilly received label expansion approval for the drug to treat episodic cluster headache in adults in 2019.
Pfizer’s Nurtec ODT is approved for acute treatment of migraine with or without aura in adults and preventive treatment of episodic migraine. The drug was recently acquired by Pfizer following the completion of Biohaven’s CGRP business last year.
Another competitor in this segment is AbbVie ABBV that markets its own oral CGRP antagonist Qulipta approved for treating migraine. In April, AbbVie announced that the FDA approved the label expansion for Qulipta to include the prevention of chronic migraine in adults. AbbVie’s Qulipta was initially approved by the agency in 2021 for the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in adults.
Eli Lilly and Company Price
Eli Lilly and Company price | Eli Lilly and Company Quote
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Eli Lilly currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).A better-ranked stock in the overall healthcare sector is Novartis NVS, which carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
In the past 60 days, estimates for Novartis’ 2023 and 2024 earnings per share have increased from $6.58 to $6.72 and $7.08 to $7.26, respectively. Shares of Novartis are up 19.2% in the year-to-date period.
Earnings of Novartis beat estimates in each of the last four quarters, witnessing an average earnings surprise of 5.15%. In the last reported quarter, Novartis’earnings beat estimates by 10.32%.
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