Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland, Join a Growing List of Provinces Providing Public Drug Plan Reimbursement for Teva Canada’s AJOVY® (fremanezumab), for the Preventive Treatment of Migraine in Adults

Rhea-AI Summary

Teva Canada Limited has announced the public formulary coverage for AJOVY® (fremanezumab) in several provinces including Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland, enhancing accessibility for migraine patients across Canada. AJOVY® is indicated for adults with at least four migraine days monthly. This development follows similar coverage announcements in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Québec. The increased availability of AJOVY® is expected to improve the quality of life for many Canadians suffering from migraines.

Positive

• Public formulary coverage for AJOVY® expands accessibility for migraine patients in key Canadian provinces.
• AJOVY® is specifically designed for preventive migraine treatment, offering flexibility in dosing options.
• The positive reception by healthcare professionals highlights the clinical importance of AJOVY®.

Negative

• None.

Public formulary and program coverage makes AJOVY^® accessible to more migraine patients across Canada

MONTRÉAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Teva Canada Limited, a subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., welcomes the recently announced public formulary coverage for AJOVY^® (fremanezumab) by Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland^1,2,3,4,5. In early March 2022, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Québec, Veteran Affairs Canada (VAC) and the Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) Program announced similar public formulary coverage.^6,7,8,9 AJOVY^® is a subcutaneous injection for the preventive treatment of migraine in adults who have at least four migraine days per month.¹⁰ Public formulary coverage will help make AJOVY^® accessible to more patients across Canada. Teva Canada hopes that other public drug plans across Canada will soon make AJOVY^® available to the eligible patients in their jurisdictions.

Teva Canada welcomes additional public formulary coverage that makes AJOVY® (fremanezumab) accessible to more migraine patients across Canada (Photo: Business Wire)

“Public coverage opens so many doors for those living with migraine to improve their quality of life; coverage for AJOVY^® is an enormous step in the right direction,” said Louise Houle, Executive Director of Migraine Québec. “As an advocate for people with migraine and as a person with chronic migraine, I’m gratified to see this disabling neurological disease get so much attention and to see more access to new treatment options.”

“Migraine impacts every aspect of a person's life and finding the right treatment may require many trials,” said Dr. Elizabeth Leroux, a researcher and neurologist with an expertise in migraine and headache management, and President of the Canadian Headache Society. “As a physician, I want all options to be available to my patients and public coverage is critical for many people to access recent treatments. Provincial coverage for AJOVY^® is great news.”

AJOVY^® is available in two formats and two dosing regimens¹⁰, giving prescribers and patients treatment flexibility to help suit their needs. AJOVY^® is supported by the AJOVY^® Teva Support Solutions^® (AJOVY^® TSS) Patient Support Program.

“At Teva Canada, we welcome Public drug plan listings that afford greater access to AJOVY^® and its flexible treatment choices for migraine patients with individualized needs,” said Christine Poulin, General Manager at Teva Canada. “These formulary listings are based on established evidence-based drug funding review processes, and we are pleased for patients and prescribers that AJOVY^® met the criteria for listing.”

About Migraine

Migraine is a disabling chronic neurological disease that causes head pain so severe that sufferers often cannot function during an attack. Migraine reduces quality of life and disrupts migraineurs’ ability to perform daily activities.^11,12 It is among the top 10 causes of disability worldwide and the seventh cause of years of life lost to disability.^13,14,15 In Canada, migraine is most common in women and most common between the ages of 30 and 49.¹⁶ Migraine therefore reduces patients’ quality of life, ability to work, and overall productivity right at the prime of their life. While acute treatment modalities are used to treat migraine attacks when they occur, they do not prevent them. Novel treatments like AJOVY^® were specifically designed to prevent migraine from occurring.

About AJOVY^®

AJOVY^® (fremanezumab) is indicated for the preventive treatment of migraine in adults who have at least four migraine days per month. AJOVY^® is available as a 225 mg/1.5 mL single-dose injection in an autoinjector or prefilled syringe with two dosing options: 225 mg monthly, administered as one subcutaneous injection; or 675 mg every three months (quarterly), administered as three subcutaneous injections. AJOVY^® is intended for patient self-administration after the patient or their caretaker has been trained to administer the product. AJOVY^® patients and prescribers are supported by the AJOVY^® Teva Support Solutions^® Patient Support Program.¹⁰

About Teva Canada

Teva Canada, headquartered in Toronto, has provided affordable healthcare solutions to Canadians for over 50 years, building their trust one prescription at a time with now more than 290,000¹⁷ prescriptions filled each day with our products, representing 1 of every 5 generic prescriptions in Canada¹⁸ The company specializes in the development, production, and marketing of high-quality generic prescription pharmaceuticals and, through our branded division, focuses on a diverse line of speciality and biopharmaceutical products in a variety of therapeutic areas such as central nervous system (CNS), respiratory, oncology and rheumatology. Teva Canada’s commitment to helping improve the lives of Canadians also extends to the Teva Caregiver program – providing tools and resources for Canadians navigating the care journey. Teva Canada employs more than 900 professionals, had sales of nearly $1.2 billion¹⁹ in 2021, and markets more than 320²⁰ products in over 935²⁰ SKUs in Canada. We are a proud subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Learn more at www.tevacanada.com.

About Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) has been developing and producing medicines to improve people’s lives for more than a century. We are a global leader in generic and specialty medicines with a portfolio consisting of over 3,500 products in nearly every therapeutic area. Around 200 million people around the world take a Teva medicine every day and are served by one of the largest and most complex supply chains in the pharmaceutical industry. Along with our established presence in generics, we have significant innovative research and operations supporting our growing portfolio of specialty and biopharmaceutical products. Learn more at www.tevapharm.com.

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1. Ontario Drug Benefit Formulary/Comparative Drug Index - Available from: https://www.formulary.health.gov.on.ca/formulary/ Ontario - OPDD Notice No. 22048 Posted April 22, 2022: ODB Formulary Edition No. 43, Summary of Changes – April 29, 2022
2. British Columbia Pharmacare Special Authority Drug List - Available from: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/practitioner-professional-resources/pharmacare/prescribers/limited-coverage-drug-program/limited-coverage-drugs-fremanezumab
3. Nova Scotia Formulary - Available from: https://novascotia.ca/dhw/pharmacare/documents/formulary.pdf
4. New Brunswick Drug Plans Formulary - Available from: https://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/h-s/pdf/en/NBDrugPlan/NewBrunswickDrugPlansFormulary.pdf
5. Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Health and Community Services Bulletin #50 - Available from: https://nlpdp.bell.ca/
6. Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec. List of Medications. Available from: https://www.ramq.gouv.qc.ca/en/about-us/list-medications
7. Saskatchewan Drug Plan information available from: https://formulary.drugplan.ehealthsask.ca/SearchFormulary/.
8. Alberta Health. Drug Benefit List. Available from: https://idbl.ab.bluecross.ca/idbl/load.do
9. Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) Program list. Available from: https://nihb-ssna.express-scripts.ca/en/0205140506092019/16/160407
10. AJOVY^® Product Monograph. Teva Canada Limited, Montréal, Quebec – January 19, 2022.
11. Buse DC, Rupnow MF, Lipton RB. Assessing and managing all aspects of migraine: migraine attacks, migraine-related functional impairment, common comorbidities, and quality of life. Mayo Clin Proc. 2009;84:422–435. doi: 10.1016/S0025-6196(11)60561-2.
12. Lipton RB, Liberman JN, Kolodner KB, et al. Migraine headache disability and health-related quality-of-life: a population-based case-control study from England. Cephalalgia. 2003;23:441–450. doi: 10.1046/j.1468-2982.2003.00546.x.
13. Steiner TJ, Stovner LJ, Birbeck GL. Migraine: the seventh disabler. J Headache Pain. 2013;14:1. doi: 10.1186/1129-2377-14-1.
14. Global Burden of Disease Study Collaborators. Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 301 acute and chronic diseases and injuries in 188 countries, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Lancet. 2015;386:743– 800. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60692-4.
15. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Global burden of disease visualization tools. Available from: http://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/ Accessed January 2016.
16. Ramage-Morin PL, Gilmour H. Prevalence of migraine in the Canadian household population. Health Rep. 2014;25(6):10–16.
17. Source: IQVIA CDH Compuscript TRx MAT Dec 2021.
18. Source: IQVIA Compuscript Trx MAT 2021.12.
19. Source: IQVIA CDH & Compuscript MAT Dec 2021.
20. Source: Teva Price list January 17, 2022.

 

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