Novartis teams with Schering-Plough for new respiratory drug

Novartis has joined with Schering-Plough to produce a new respiratory drug aimed for commercial use.

The two pharmaceutical majors are to develop a once-daily fixed-dose combination treatment for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases
(COPD) – these being the two biggest respiratory diseases affecting patients.

Plans for the collaboration revolve around a new therapy that combines Novartis’ fast-acting Beta2-agonist QAV159, indacterol, with Schering-Plough’s daily corticosteroid mometasone. The combined product would be retailed as a single inhalation device that aims to improve the control of symptoms while providing “convenience and compliance through once-daily dosing”.

Thomas Ebling, CEO of Novartis, commented: “By working together, we can combine our expertise and commitment in the respiratory field to provide improved treatment options that will potentially benefit millions of patients with asthma and COPD. The combination of indacaterol with mometasone would be a significant addition to our respiratory pipeline, demonstrating our commitment to the development of important new products to improve disease control for patients.”

Treatments combining inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting Beta2-agonists constitute the largest class of drugs in the asthma and COPD drug market.
Novartis states that such treatments have “true 24-hour efficacy” and provide rapid action, which could potentially save lives.

Asthma affects around 300 million people globally with 15 million of these suffering from sever symptoms of the disease. Around 180,000 people die from the chronic inflammatory disease each year. COPD is also a potentially life-threatening disease and is the world’s fourth leading cause of death – affecting approximately four percent of the population in Europe, Japan and the US.

Novartis was recently in headlines for its submission of Glavus, an oral treatment for people with Type II diabetes. It hopes that the once-daily therapy will be commercially available for the treatment of people with poor glycemic control.

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