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. 2023 Mar;40(3):1141-1152.
doi: 10.1007/s12325-022-02386-w. Epub 2023 Jan 17.

Observational Analysis of the Costs Associated with Acute Treatment of Breakthrough Migraine Attacks in Medicaid Patients Using Preventive Therapies

Linda Harris  1 , Tom O'Connell  2   3 , Jonathan J Woolley  4 , Gilbert L'Italien  1 , Tamela Martin  1 , Vladimir Coric  1 , James A Moren  5
Affiliations

Observational Analysis of the Costs Associated with Acute Treatment of Breakthrough Migraine Attacks in Medicaid Patients Using Preventive Therapies

Linda Harris et al. Adv Ther. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

Introduction: Medications for preventive treatment of migraine reduce migraine frequency, usually measured by a reduction in monthly migraine days (MMD), but generally do not eliminate the need for acute treatment. To assess the economic impact of treatment-related reductions in frequency, methodological guidance recommends capturing cost differences along the spectrum of MMD.

Objective: Characterize monthly migraine medication costs along the spectrum of MMD for patients using calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for prevention.

Methods: Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data (SDUD) were used to identify formulations and per-unit costs for oral, intranasal, and parenteral migraine-specific medications for acute and preventive treatment used by fee-for-service (FFS) Medicaid enrollees in 2020. National drug codes of relevant therapies were used to match SDUD to formulation characteristics including substance, route of administration, and branded/generic marketing status. Mean per-unit cost and the formulation's share of total prescriptions were estimated. Monthly medication costs were modeled based on formulations' per-unit costs and frequency of acute medication use during clinical trials of CGRP mAbs.

Results: In the SDUD, there were 563,338 prescriptions for migraine-specific acute medications; triptans accounted for 97.37%. Triptan formulations prescribed were 83.78% oral tablet, 10.89% orally disintegrating tablet, 2.60% intranasal, and 2.73% parenteral. Dihydroergotamine accounted for < 1% of total prescriptions and had the highest per-unit cost ($443.50, branded intranasal). There were 97,119 prescriptions for CGRP mAbs, the majority for erenumab (45.73%) or galcanezumab (45.24%). Modeled monthly acute and preventive medication costs ranged from approximately $550 in patients with the fewest MMD treated with oral triptans to > $1500 in patients with the most MMD treated with dihydroergotamine.

Conclusion: In consideration of the migraine-specific acute medications used in FFS Medicaid 2020, for patients using CGRP mAbs for prevention, medication costs may vary significantly with the number of breakthrough attacks treated per month and the type of migraine-specific acute therapy used.

Keywords: Breakthrough; Cost; Dihydroergotamine; Intranasal; Medicaid; Migraine, acute; Migraine, prevention; Monoclonal antibody; Monthly migraine day; Triptan.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Estimated monthly migraine-specific drug costs for fee for service Medicaid patients on CGRP mAb preventive therapies. CGRP mAb calcitonin gene-related peptide monoclonal antibody, DHE dihydroergotamine, ODT orally disintegrating tablet
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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