Improvements in quality of life and work productivity with up to 6 months of fremanezumab treatment in patients with episodic and chronic migraine and documented inadequate response to 2 to 4 classes of migraine‐preventive medications in the phase 3b FOCUS study

Background Migraine is associated with depression as well as negative impact on quality of life and work productivity. Fremanezumab, a fully humanized monoclonal antibody (IgG2Δa), selectively targets the calcitonin gene-related peptide and has proven efficacy for the preventive treatment of migraine. Objective In this open-label extension (OLE) of the phase 3b FOCUS study, we assessed patient-reported outcomes (PROs) over time. Methods Patients with episodic migraine (EM) and chronic migraine (CM) completing the 12-week, double-blind (DB) period of the FOCUS trial entered the 12-week OLE and received three monthly doses of fremanezumab (225 mg). PROs included the Migraine-Specific Quality of Life (MSQoL) questionnaire (role function-restrictive [RFR], role function-preventive [RFP], and emotional function [EF] domains), EuroQol-5-Dimension-5-Level (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire, Patient Global Impression of Change (PGIC) assessment, Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) questionnaire, and 9-Item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Results A total of 838 patients were randomized in the DB period, 807 entered the OLE at 3 months, and 772 were still enrolled at 6 months. At 6 months, patients in the quarterly fremanezumab, monthly fremanezumab, and placebo DB randomization groups, respectively, reported improvements in RFR (mean [standard deviation] change from baseline: 24.6 [21.9]; 22.9 [21.3]; 20.8 [26.5]), RFP (19.6 [20.0]; 18.3 [19.7]; 16.0 [19.9]), and EF (22.5 [24.2]; 19.1 [23.6]; 17.2 [24.7]) domains of the MSQoL questionnaire, the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire (8.0 [19.6]; 7.3 [21.1]; 6.6 [21.0]), all four domains of the WPAI questionnaire, and the PHQ-9 (-2.4 [5.3]; -1.6 [5.5]; -2.0 [4.9]); 77.1% (209/271), 75.4% (205/272), and 68.8% (181/263) of patients were identified as PGIC responders. Conclusion Among patients with EM or CM and prior inadequate response to multiple migraine-preventive medication classes, progressive improvements in MSQoL, depression, and work productivity were achieved during 6 months of fremanezumab treatment.