Migraine patient or doctor? Demand more, Biohaven advises in new awareness push
fiercepharma | July 16, 2019
Biohaven is urging patients and physicians to Demand More from acute migraine treatments. Thats the tagline of its just-launched effort to draw attention to the lack of satisfactory options. Biohaven debuted the work at the recent American Headache Society annual meeting. At the center of the campaign and website are patients holding signs that spell out their frustrations with current acute migraine treatments. Those include, I need an acute treatment that can work the first time and, Migraine treatments should impact my symptoms. Not my life. Migraine patients often treat headaches with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), triptans, or even more powerful narcotics, but Biohaven’s research found that many people are not satisfied with those drugs' side effects and with having to take multiple medicines or dose frequently, Biohaven CEO Vlad Coric said. The campaign is intentionally bold, and in fact, Biohaven rejected the first round of ad submissions. Coric said they were “dangerously close” to going with a standard pharma-type campaign, but the internal team said no. So they went back to the drawing board with their ideas and ad agency Catalyst to come up with the “Demand More” treatise. “We wanted it to stand out for both doctors and patients,” he said. “I hope it empowers patients to say they deserve better treatment for their migraines so they can get back to their lives. And I hope it highlights for physicians not to be complacent with the current stuff. Be focused on what’s coming because these patients deserve better treatment.”