Lilly Launches Think Talk Treat Migraine™ to Help Improve Diagnosis and Treatment of Migraine

Think Talk Treat Migraine empowers people living with migraine and their primary care providers (PCPs) to have more direct conversations that can improve diagnosis and care

News provided by

Eli Lilly and Company

Jun 17, 2021, 08:00 ET

INDIANAPOLIS, June 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on results from a large population-based survey, it is estimated that approximately half of people with migraine hesitate to seek care for a variety of reasons, and even fewer receive a diagnosis and take the treatment they need.^1,2,3 To help address these important unmet needs in migraine care, Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) launched Think Talk Treat Migraine™, a new initiative to empower people living with migraine and their primary care providers to recognize key symptoms of migraine and have better conversations about the disease that can lead to proper diagnosis and treatment.

The initiative is currently in pilot stage – available in four metropolitan areas – Hartford/New Haven (Connecticut), Raleigh/Durham (North Carolina), Indianapolis (Indiana) and Denver (Colorado) – and provides people living with migraine and their healthcare providers with simple resources to think about, talk about and treat migraine.

"People with significant disabling headache often do not recognize it as migraine and as a result, understandably do not seek care. Further, among those who do seek care, there is often a gap in communication between them and their primary care provider, particularly about the impact migraine has on their life. This can not only lead to fewer appropriate diagnoses, but also treatment recommendations that may not deliver the freedom from migraine pain they seek," said Michael Cobas Meyer, MD, MBA, vice president of global medical affairs, Lilly Bio-Medicines. "The goal of Think Talk Treat Migraine is to simplify the recognition and discussion of the disease from both the patient and the primary care provider perspectives, potentially leading to meaningful improvements in health outcomes through accurate diagnosis and appropriate, timely care."

More people impacted by migraine seek care from a primary care provider than any other care setting,⁴ yet research shows that only a small proportion receive a migraine diagnosis and treatment recommendation during those initial discussions.⁵ There can be many reasons for this including the short length of an office visit or the ability to effectively convey or recognize symptoms.⁶ While 40% of people with migraine are eligible for preventive treatment, less than 20% receive it.⁷ Further, only 28% of people impacted by migraine and eligible for acute treatment are seeking care, diagnosed with migraine and prescribed recommended acute medication.³

"I've been living with migraine for most of my adult life and like many others who may be misdiagnosed or undiagnosed, I didn't realize there was a name for what I was experiencing or that it was a neurological disease," said Kelsey V., 27 years old from Colorado. "It's important that initial discussions about migraine with one's health care provider are easier because having the right diagnosis and the right treatment can make all the difference."

Think Talk Treat Migraine provides information, tools and resources specifically developed for people who may be living with migraine and primary care providers, including a Talk To Your Healthcare Provider Checklist, a new digital migraine management platform called VEGA™ and education about the ID Migraine^® tool, which helps identify people living with migraine by asking three simple questions:

Has a headache limited your activities any day in the last month?
Are you nauseated or sick to your stomach when you have a headache?
Does light bother you when you have a headache?

Research has shown that if a person experiencing headaches answers yes to two of these questions, there is a greater than 90% chance they are living with migraine and should speak with their healthcare provider.⁸

VEGA is a digital platform that offers a smartphone app to enable users to track important information about their migraine such as their ability to function, pain severity, symptoms, triggers and the medications they take to manage it. With this information, a person can more effectively talk to their provider about the impact migraine has on their life, which may help inform an appropriate treatment plan.

Think Talk Treat Migraine will also host webinars for primary care providers to help elevate awareness of migraine within the primary care setting. Information provided during the webinars will focus on a streamlined approach to help identify migraine, information about how to assess the impact of migraine and insights about how the extent of impact a migraine has can inform an appropriate treatment plan.

"Despite its prevalence and the human and societal impact of migraine, this disease is often underestimated and misunderstood. A variety of reasons, including stigma and lack of awareness, drive some people living with migraine to hide their pain and the effects of the disease. This can lead to underdiagnoses and unnecessary pain and disability," said Kevin Lenaburg, executive director, Coalition for Headache and Migraine Patients (CHAMP). "Lilly understands the impact that not getting an accurate diagnosis can have on people living with migraine and recognizes that it doesn't have to be that way. Think Talk Treat Migraine is fostering important conversations while providing the tools and resources to help make a meaningful difference for people with migraine and primary care providers alike."

About Migraine
Migraine is a severely disabling neurologic disease characterized by recurrent episodes of moderate to severe headache accompanied by other symptoms including nausea, sensitivity to light, and sensitivity to sound.^9,10 More than 30 million American adults have migraine, with three times more women than men affected by migraine.⁷ Migraine is often incapacitating, leading to high personal, societal, and economic burden. According to the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey, total annual healthcare costs associated with migraine are estimated to be as high as $56 billion in the United States, yet it remains under-recognized and under-treated.¹¹

About Lilly's Commitment to Headache Disorders
For over 25 years, Lilly has been committed to helping people affected by headache disorders, investigating more than a dozen different compounds for the treatment of migraine and cluster headache. These research programs have accelerated our understanding of these diseases and furthered the advancement of treatments for headache disorders. Our goal is to apply our combined clinical, academic and professional experience to build a research portfolio that delivers broad solutions and addresses the needs of people affected by these disabling neurologic diseases.

About Eli Lilly and Company
Lilly is a global health care leader that unites caring with discovery to create medicines that make life better for people around the world. We were founded more than a century ago by a man committed to creating high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we remain true to that mission in all our work. Across the globe, Lilly employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. To learn more about Lilly, please visit us at lilly.com and lilly.com/newsroom. C-LLY

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements (as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) about Lilly's Think Talk Treat Migraine™ Initiative and Lilly's efforts, plans, and objectives, and reflects Lilly's current beliefs and expectations. There can be no assurance that Lilly will be successful in achieving the goals discussed above. For additional information about the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements, see Lilly's Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, Lilly undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release.

Think Talk Treat Migraine™ and VEGA™ are trademarks owned or licensed by Eli Lilly and Company, its subsidiaries, or affiliates.
ID Migraine^® is a registered trademark of Pfizer Inc.

References

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