Inpharma 1645 - 5 Jul 2008

Prophylactic topiramate eases costheadache

The use of prophylactic topiramate in patients withmigraine or headache who overuse acute medicationsmay significantly decrease resource use and costs,according to a US study presented at the 50th AnnualScientific Meeting of the American Headache Society.

The study included 540 National Health Planmembers with migraine or headache* and acutemedication use between 2002 and 2006 and comparedheadache-related and all-cause resource use and costsfor the pre-index period (6 months before topiramateinitiation) versus the post-index period 1 (months 1–6)and the pre-index period versus the post-index period 2(months 7–12).

From pre-index to post-index period 2, topiramateinitiation resulted in significant decreases in migraine orheadache-related physician visits (2.6 to 1.65), costs($US302.84 to $US189.27), prescription fills(17.3 to 13.6) and pharmacy costs ($US2279 to$US2064).

By post-index period 2, all-cause resource usesignificantly decreased for physician visits (9.5 to 6.4),prescription fills (33.89 to 26.21) and outpatienthospital visits (2.5 to 1.8). The researchers conclude thatdecreases in pharmacy costs following the initiation ofprophylactic topiramate suggest that long-termtopiramate treatment may bring benefits withoutincreasing total cost.* who had ≥2 fills for topiramate at least 3 months after the first acutemedication claim and limited use of other migraine prophylactics

Pesa J, et al. Prophylaxis treatment with topiramate in migraine patients withevidence of overuse of acute medications: effect on health care resource utilizationand cost. Headache 48 (Suppl. 1): 22-23 abstr. F25, May 2008 801115661

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Inpharma 5 Jul 2008 No. 16451173-8324/10/1645-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved