Shares of Alder Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (ALDR) were up almost 50% today after the company announced positive phase 2 results in patients with chronic migraines. More specifically the trial was looking to see how much migraine prevention can be done using the company’s drug ALD403. The ALD403 drug showed that it could work quickly in patients and that it prevented migraines over the entire 12-week study that took place in this phase 2b trial.
In addition the prior phase 1 trial proved that the therapy could be given to patients in multiple ways such as: Intravenous, subcutaneous, and intramuscular. It also showed that the drug could be given to patients in a quarterly fashion.
Patients in the trial were randomized to receive either a single intravenous infusion of 30 mg, 100 mg, 300 mg of ALD403 or a placebo compound. These patients were classified with chronic migraines as having more than 15 headaches per day. The next step for the company is to advance the clinical compound to a phase 3 trial. Upon FDA approval, Alder is expecting to market the drug itself. It wants to target the patient population itself, considering it is a huge market with 13 million patients suffering from chronic migraines.
