Leerink analyst Geoffrey Porges notes that Allergan (AGN) announced positive topline data from a phase IIb/III trial of oral CGRP receptor antagonist atogepant in episodic migraine prevention. The analyst believes this data is certainly positive for Allergan and suggests they may eventually have an oral CGRP medicine approval for both acute and preventative treatment of migraines, However, Porges awaits further data disclosure and larger patient numbers to be convinced about comparing the efficacy of atogepant to the more advanced injectable CGRP medicines in development. With regard to Amgen (AMGN) and Alder (ALDR), who both have injectable CGRP antibodies for migraine prevention, potential competitive erosion from orals is still several years away and he continues to see the more severe chronic migraine population as being a more meaningful commercial opportunity for this class.

Amgen "provided an update regarding the results of the Phase 2a COURSE trial for TEZSPIRE(R) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, which were accepted for presentation in the Clinical Trials Symposium at The American Thoracic Society 2024 International Conference on Monday, May 20, from 9:15-11:15 a.m. PDT. We are encouraged by the results of the COURSE Phase 2a proof-of-concept trial, which investigated tezepelumab in moderate to very severe COPD patients, across a broad range of eosinophil levels, irrespective of inflammatory drivers, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and smoking status. This study did not exclude any patients based on their baseline eosinophil count (BEC) and intentionally enrolled patients with a broad range of BECs. Overall, tezepelumab numerically reduced the annualized rate of moderate or severe COPD exacerbations versus placebo by 17% (90% CI: -6, 36; p=0.1042). Of note, more reductions were observed in a prespecified subgroup of patients with BEC greater than or equal to150 cells/muL (37% [95% CI: 7, 57]). The trend in reduction was greater in a small number of subjects with BEC greater than or equal to300 cells/microL."