Teva shares rise in Tel Aviv as migraine results buoy investors

Shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. advanced on Sunday in Tel Aviv after the world’s largest generic drug maker said last week that its experimental drug to prevent migraines has proven to be efficacious and safe in a Phase III study.

The shares closed 5 percent higher at NIS 108 ($30.56) in Tel Aviv, capping a decline of 46% in the past 12 months.

“The shares are up because of the successful migraine study,” said Gilad Alper, the head of foreign equity research at Petah Tikva-based Excellence Nessuah Brokerage. “It is an important drug, especially because Copaxone is possibly about to meet steep generic competition.” Copaxone is Teva’s flagship medication for multiple sclerosis.

Teva’s shares have plummeted in the past year due to a series of management missteps and unfortunate timing, including the expensive acquisition of Actavis Generics, the generics arm of rival Allergan, for $40 billion last year and looming competition for Copaxone, the company’s biggest brand-name drug.

In the episodic migraine (EM) study, patients treated with monthly and quarterly fremanezumab experienced clinically and statistically significant improvements in all endpoints and 12 pre-specified analyses, Teva said in a statement Wednesday.

“This is an extremely important development for Teva in our desire to make a meaningful difference to the millions of patients who suffer from migraine around the world,” said Dr. Yitzhak Peterburg, interim president and CEO at Teva in the statement. “Based on these data, we are confident in the potential for fremanezumab to be a differentiated treatment within the migraine marketplace, and these results are a testament to the strength of Teva’s development capabilities.”

The company is in the process of seeking a new CEO to replace Erez Vigodman, who stepped down in February after he failed to turn around the company fortunes.

The Israeli drugmaker expects to pick someone who is at the “CEO level today,” Peterburg said at the Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference in New York Wednesday, Bloomberg reported. The person would also need to have “very, really important, background in pharma,” he said.

Teva plans to apply for a permit from the Food and Drug Administration for fremanezumab later this year, in both episodic and chronic migraine, and anticipates approval and launch in the second half of 2018, the company said in the statement. Analysts estimate that the migraine drug could generate at least $1 billion in sales annually, Reuters said.

Migraine is an unpredictable neurological condition with symptoms including severe head pain and physical impairment that can impact quality of life and productivity. There are two clinical manifestations of migraine – chronic, where patients suffer 15 or more headache days per month, and episodic, where patients have 14 or fewer headache days per month. Worldwide, approximately 90% of people diagnosed with migraine have episodic migraine and 10% have chronic migraine.

With more than 1 billion people affected worldwide, migraine is the third most prevalent illness in the world and the sixth most disabling illness in the world. Of the approximately 40% of patients suffering from migraine for whom prevention is appropriate, only 13% are currently receiving therapy. According to recent analysis, the economic burden for migraine patients reaches approximately $78 billion per year in the US, data provided by the company shows