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March 10, 2021

Biohaven migraine pill wins first approval outside US

By Natalie Missakian

New Haven-based Biohaven Pharmaceuticals has scored its first regulatory approval to market its new migraine pill to patients outside the U.S. 

The Elm City biotech said Wednesday morning that the Israeli Ministry of Health has greenlit Nurtec ODT for commercial sales in Israel.

Biohaven will distribute the drug in that country via Israel-based pharmaceutical firm Medison Pharma, under a deal the two companies reached last April. Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.   

“The strategic partnership with Medison Pharma will allow us to quickly expand access to Nurtec ODT,” Biohaven CEO Dr. Vlad Coric said Wednesday in a statement. 

Biohaven launched the drug commercially in the U.S. last March after winning Food and Drug Administration approval in February 2020. 

NURTEC™ ODT zoom in of individual quick-dissolving tablet

Medison Pharma founder and CEO Meir Jakobsohn attributed the latest approval to the two companies’ “shared efforts and joint commitment to providing access to breakthrough therapies that improve the lives of migraine patients.”

Part of a new class of migraine drugs known as CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide) receptor antagonists, Nurtec dissolves in the mouth without the need for water and works by blocking a chemical that transmits pain. 

The drug is currently approved to stop migraine attacks in progress but Biohaven is seeking additional FDA approval to market it domestically as a preventative treatment. It brought in nearly $64 million for the company last year.

Contact Natalie Missakian at news@newhavenbiz.com

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