Biohaven is showing there’s no time for migraine when you’re in the fast lane as it doubles down on its literal marketing vehicles for the Nurect NASCAR and IndyCar teams.
Last May, the biopharma trying to use a small budget to push for big things in migraine marketing said its drug Nurtec ODT would become the primary partner for the Rick Ware Racing No. 51 NTT IndyCar Series program.
This came a few months after its first-ever NASCAR sponsorship that sent the Nurtec ODT migraine brand flying around the racetrack at 200 miles per hour. The car debuted at the Daytona 500 last February.
Now, Biohaven has boosted its sponsorship for the second year as the primary partner for the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing entry during the entire 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Season, as well as the NTT INDYCAR series.
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For the latter, it’s also seeing former Formula One and two-time Indy 500 champion Takuma Sato join the No. 51 team to compete full-time in this year’s NTT IndyCar Series.
“I am thrilled to be back behind the wheel of the No. 51 Nurtec ODT car, which holds personal meaning for me as a person with migraine,” said Cody Ware, owner Rick Ware’s son.
“With the new cars this year and the Ford alliance, I am looking forward to seeing what the future holds for the Rick Ware Racing team. Nurtec ODT has been a great partner this past year, helping to raise awareness of migraine among NASCAR fans, and 2022 looks to be another promising year of racing!”
Ware initially connected with Biohaven CEO Vlad Coric because his family members suffer from migraines. But the NASCAR link isn’t limited to the Ware family’s real patients. The racing venue fit with Nurtec’s rapid mechanism of action: Its label indicates maximum concentration after 1.5 hours.
As part of last year’s sponsorship, the Nurtec car and Biohaven joined the Military Salutes NASCAR program, which took cars to 35 different bases for soldiers and their families.
Over the course of the year, the Military Salutes program allowed for over 1,200 service members to be honored. Heading into 2022, the team said it “plans on continuing the efforts to give back to those who continue to serve.”
Biohaven is a small fish in a big pond when it comes to marketing migraine drugs, but now that it has treatment and prevention labels for Nurect from the FDA, it is hoping to try to carve out blockbuster sales in the coming years.
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It has strong competition from big players in AbbVie, which markets Ubrelvy and Qulipta, as well as from Eli Lilly and its Emgality and Reyvow, Amgen’s Aimovig and Teva’s Ejovy. Given that migraine affects around 40 million Americans and more than one billion people globally, there’s a huge market—and a brewing marketing war.
AbbVie already has a number of campaigns underway, including tapping TikTok for its so-called “Calming Shorts” videos and hiring tennis superstar Serena Williams as it spokesperson, while also spending millions on TV ads.
Biohaven, which has a much smaller budget but blockbuster ambitions, has not had the financial firepower to match AbbVie on ad spend but has decided to move more into social media, which is both cheaper and more efficient, and tap some big names including Khloe Kardashian and Whoopi Goldberg. (Though it got in hot water with the FDA last year over its marketing use of the celebrities.)
Lilly has also been ramping up awareness for its migraine med Emgality and its “Think Talk Treat” initiative, which used a host of media platforms to help people get diagnosed and treated for the condition.
