Abstract: There is limited evidence on the scope and overall benefit of patient-centred drug development decisions. The present study assessed patients’ preferences for the characteristics of an ideal
migraine treatment through a discrete choice experiment in order to inform decision-making and
drug development processes. We investigated the preferences according to five treatment attributes
identified from a systematic literature review and two focus group elicitations. The heterogeneity
of preferences was also investigated. Overall, the respondents considered the presence of adverse
events, duration of treatment effect, reduction of symptom intensity, speed of effect and cost born
by the patient as the most relevant treatment features. As expected, the patients preferred treatments with lower levels of adverse events and costs and treatments with greater speed, duration of
treatment effect and effectiveness in reducing symptom intensity. There was significant preference
heterogeneity only for the presence of adverse events. Compared to men, women had significantly
higher preferences for quicker treatment effect and limited adverse events and reported higher
preferences for costly treatments. The results of our survey help address research and development
strategies in the pharmaceutical industry and public policy regarding treatments that are clinically
effective and responsive to the needs expressed by patients
