Botox, the wrinkle-smoothing drug from Irvine’s Allergan Inc., cut the number of headache days for adults with chronic migraines, according to two late-stage clinical trials.
Data from two clinical studies that came out this week and will be presented at an upcoming meeting of the International Headache Society in Philadelphia showed that patients who were injected with Botox had headaches on nearly eight fewer days a month than those on a placebo.
A second study showed that Botox-treated patients had headaches nine fewer days than those in a placebo group.
Allergan previously said that the first trial missed its primary goal of reducing headache episodes but did meet a secondary goal of reducing headache days.
Wells Fargo Securities analyst Larry Biegelsen said in a research report that the data met his expectations and that Botox’s effectiveness was at least “comparable” to Topamax, a Johnson & Johnson epilepsy drug that’s also approved for migraine prevention.
Allergan’s expected to file its application for Botox for treating migraines with the Food and Drug Administration this month. Chronic migraine headaches affect an estimated 1.2 million to 3.6 million Americans.
Biegelsen said that the chronic migraine headache market represented a $500 million opportunity for Botox.
Botox, whose second quarter sales totaled about $337 million, is also approved for other medical uses, such as treating neck spasms.
