A Retrospective Cohort Study of Recent Large Multiple Commercial Payer Databases to Elucidate Migraine-specific Costs of Care by specific Treatment Groups
Olya Besedina1, Mariya Petrova1, Brendan Hare2, Alankar Gupta1, Shaheen Lakhan1
1Click Therapeutics Inc., 2Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals
Objective:
This Retrospective observational cohort analysis of migraine patients in the US aimed to evaluate the current medication costs associated with the treatment of Migraine, stratified by distinct treatment groups.
Background:
Migraine, affecting 14% of the population, is a significant healthcare burden. While generic treatments are affordable, newer anti-CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide) medications may raise costs. This study examines current medication expenses within our large US Migraine patient group, stratifying costs by treatment groups.
Design/Methods:
Migraine cases were categorized as Chronic or Other Migraine using ICD-10 codes. Treatment groups were determined hierarchically based on baseline treatments: anti-CGRP, non-specific preventive or acute treatment, or no treatment. Data from Health Verity, comprising 187,780 cases, covered the 12-month periods before and after the index date (8/1/2018 - 7/31/2021).
Results:
Anti-CGRP treatment group had the highest total pharmacy and medical cost among all treatment groups. During the follow-up period, within Chronic Migraine the Migraine-Specific total pharmacy cost for the anti-CGRP group was $5,555 PPPY (per patient per year) and is 6.5 times higher compared to the next treatment group - Preventative Non-Specific - $857 PPPY. All-Cause Total Pharmacy Cost for anti-CGRP group was $9,331 PPPY and is 2.4 times higher compared to the next treatment group - Preventative Non-Specific - $3,882. The same trend is observed in the Other Migraine group.
Conclusions:
This analysis of recent medication costs within Migraine treatment groups reveals the dominant impact of anti-CGRP medications. The anti-CGRP group consistently exhibits markedly higher Total Pharmacy costs for both all-cause and migraine-specific expenses in Chronic and Other Migraine categories. This underscores the profound financial influence of anti-CGRP treatments on overall healthcare costs within these groups.