Patients shouldn’t have to endure debilitating symptoms day after day when there is a medication that could help them. Yet that’s what’s happening in Mississippi to people with migraine.
Headache Experts Lament Growing Treatment Barriers
“Restrictive insurance policies keep patients from the very medications that can prevent and treat [headache and migraine disease],” asserts the inaugural position paper from the Alliance for Patient Access’ Headache and Migraine Disease Working Group.
Acceptance, Compliance With Migraine Drugs Higher With Two Dosing Options
New Report Addresses Distinct Challenges in Utilizing ICER to Assess Value of Rare Disease Treatments
BOSTON, MA – Today, Pioneer Institute released a new report, Looming Challenges for ICER in Assessing the Value of Rare Disease Therapies, that examines why the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) and the Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY) approach to value assessment is particularly ill-suited to assess the cost-effectiveness of orphan and rare disease treatments, which represent a rapidly growing sector of the biopharmaceutical marketplace.
A Year After Approval, Migraine Drugs Are Changing Lives. But Insurance Battles Are Creating a Whole New Headache
Last May, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Amgen and Novartis’ Aimovig, the first drug specifically designed to prevent chronic migraines, and offered new hope to the millions of Americans regularly weathering these debilitating headaches. Just months later came two other drugs in its class, Eli Lilly’s Emgality and Teva Pharmaceuticals’ Ajovy.
To save money, my insurance company forced me to try drugs that didn’t work
I’ve had migraines since I was 12, but in 2015 my attacks got much worse. Without migraine-specific painkillers, my migraines make me queasy and tired, forcing me to go to bed with a freezing wet towel on my head.
Chronic Migraine, Chronic Insurer Denials
“It was so bad. It just wouldn’t quit.” Sara, a new patient, was sitting in my office describing a migraine attack that had led to a recent hospitalization. Except it wasn’t exactly the migraine that led to hospitalization. It was, I found out, an attempted suicide, prompted by the relentless impact of chronic migraine.
Can ICER Fix What's Broken?
Health Plan Barriers & Migraine Are a Losing Combination
Introducing: Migraine at Work
Migraine at Work, a project of the Headache and Migraine Policy Forum, has launched a new website to support employers and employees with the tools they need to build happier, healthier and more productive workplaces. Whether you’re looking to initiate a positive conversation with your employer or simply learn about effective strategies for managing your disease at work, this website is a great place to start.
Amgen is a founding sponsor of Migraine at Work.
AMA calls pain task force recommendations a road map for future policy
New "Fast Facts" Scrutinizes ICER
Policymakers, providers and patients all feel the impact of The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, whose ubiquitous cost-effectiveness reports can determine patients’ access to medicine. But could these stakeholders and the public find real answers to basic questions – like “What is ICER?” and “Who controls ICER?”
Non-Medical Switching Hurts Patients
In a first-of-its-kind study, the Alliance for Patient Access reveals that non-medical switching, where insurers or pharmacy benefit managers drive stable patients to switch to lower-cost medicines, can levy widespread damage on patients' quality of life.
Policy Event Spotlights Migraine & Disability Issues
HMPF Capitol Hill Policy Forum 2019
Non-Medical Switching of Neurotoxins
Botulinum neurotoxins can bring relief to patients who experience migraine, involuntary twitching, and excessive sweating. Learn what happens when health plans switch patients' medication in this video.
The Migraine Thief
For years, migraine disease stole time, personal goals, career plans and even Jaime Sanders’ ideal of motherhood. But her condition no longer manages her, she manages it—and she advocates so migraine disease patients can access the innovative medications they need.
Which Migraine Patients Should Get CGRP Drugs?
Amplifying the Migraine Community's Voice in ICER's Value Assessment Process
Speeding Progress in Migraine Requires Unraveling Sex Differences
To decrease the substantial health and economic burden of migraine on individuals and society, researchers need to examine and address how the disease differs between women and men, according to a report from the Society for Women’s Health Research published in the August issue of the Journal of Women’s Health.