The Migraine Treatment Access Problem

Migraine is a debilitating neurological disorder impacting over a billion people worldwide. At Pfizer, we’re dedicated to understanding the causes of migraine. With that goal in mind, we’ve put together a series of articles exploring different aspects of migraine management.

In our first post, we looked at the current state of migraine care, reflecting on what’s working and where there’s room to improve

Today, we’re discussing one of the biggest roadblocks to treatment for the condition: access.

For too many people, the road to accessing migraine care is fraught with countless obstacles. And when you’re already struggling to find specialists and work through complicated coverage processes, these barriers can really add up.

The result? A staggering 89% of people surveyed by the Headache & Migraine Policy Forum say that the inability to access treatments they need has negatively impacted their ability to manage their condition.¹

And the difficulties don’t stop after people get prescribed their desired medication. Instead, migraine sufferers often face:

• Complicated prior authorization requirements, such as having to try and fail other treatments before getting the one they were originally prescribed
• Lengthy processes that can delay access to prescribed treatments by months
• Extended periods in which people are still pushing through their pain without access to the right care

Julienne Verdi, Executive Director of the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy, shares how barriers to accessing the right care forced her to endure physical pain alongside anxiety over not knowing what was happening to her body:

“I was having migraine with aura – a migraine symptom involving sensory changes, including blurry vision or other vision changes, ringing ears, or dizziness – so I thought I was having seizures because the aura was so extreme, and I didn't know what was happening in my body. I was formally diagnosed when I was in my 20s in law school with migraine and started treatment, back then treatment options were very limited. Then there were a lot of things that I couldn't take, or tried and didn't work, and I'm so thrilled that the field has come so far. But there is still so much further we need to go.” – Julienne Verdi, Executive Director, Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy

Step Therapy: A Barrier to Effective Care

Experiences like Julienne’s reinforce the pressing need for people to have timely access to treatments that work for them. However, one of the major obstacles in the way, which we touched on above, is step therapy, also known as "fail first," which forces patients to try insurer-required treatments before getting the ones prescribed by their HCP.

This process can result in months of delays, during which many patients report an increase in migraine frequency and severity, with 57% experiencing more frequent attacks and 41% finding their attacks more intense. For some, the delays in receiving the right treatment have been so severe that they’ve had to resort to emergency room visits or urgent care, with 31% of patients reporting such incidents.²

The consequences are clear: people with migraine are often left without proper relief, and the delays not only worsen their condition but also greatly impact their overall quality of life.

It’s time to simplify the treatment process and remove these barriers. Show your support by signing this open letter from the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy (AHDA) — demanding change to migraine care access: https://www.migraineblackout.com/ahda-letter

 References

¹ Survey Report, The Headache and Migraine Policy Forum. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5886319ba5790a66cf05d235/t/65f9fc4ec4e17d65f19b48c3/1710881873681/SurveySummaryReportMM-HMPF-March2024.pdf Published March 2024.

² Step Therapy and Migraine Infographic, The Headache and Migraine Policy Forum. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5886319ba5790a66cf05d235/t/6470fc7e7e35112dbe231afc/1685126270359/HMPF-StepTherapy-Infographic-May2023.pdf Survey Conducted March 2023.