LONDON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - A new once-daily Novartis drug for treating 'smoker's lung', or COPD, has been recommended for approval in Europe, the European Medicines Agency said on Friday.
The green light is a boost for the Swiss drugmaker's ambitions in respiratory medicine, a field currently dominated by GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Pfizer .
QAB149, or indacaterol, is the first once-daily bronchodilator treatment for adult patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). When approved, the drug and its inhaler device, Concept-1, will be known as Onbrez Breezhaler.
'On approval, our plans are for QAB149 to form the foundation of a new portfolio of potential products designed to improve patients' respiratory health,' said Trevor Mundel, head of development at Novartis.
The European Commission generally follows the recommendations of the London-based medicines agency and delivers its final decision within three months.
Novartis will initially sell QAB149 as a monotherapy. But industry analysts believe unlocking the medicine's full sales potential -- which some have put at $3-5 billion a year -- will depend on combining QAB149 with other treatments.
Novartis is studying combinations with NVA237, a new drug it is developing with Vectura, and with Schering-Plough's inhaled steroid mometasone.
Those combinations may not reach the market until around 2013, analysts estimate.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by David Cowell) Keywords: NOVARTIS/LUNG DRUG (ben.hirschler@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +44 20 7542 5082; Reuters Messaging: ben.hirschler.reuters.com@reuters.net; www.twitter.com/reutersBenHir) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
The green light is a boost for the Swiss drugmaker's ambitions in respiratory medicine, a field currently dominated by GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Pfizer .
QAB149, or indacaterol, is the first once-daily bronchodilator treatment for adult patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). When approved, the drug and its inhaler device, Concept-1, will be known as Onbrez Breezhaler.
'On approval, our plans are for QAB149 to form the foundation of a new portfolio of potential products designed to improve patients' respiratory health,' said Trevor Mundel, head of development at Novartis.
The European Commission generally follows the recommendations of the London-based medicines agency and delivers its final decision within three months.
Novartis will initially sell QAB149 as a monotherapy. But industry analysts believe unlocking the medicine's full sales potential -- which some have put at $3-5 billion a year -- will depend on combining QAB149 with other treatments.
Novartis is studying combinations with NVA237, a new drug it is developing with Vectura, and with Schering-Plough's inhaled steroid mometasone.
Those combinations may not reach the market until around 2013, analysts estimate.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by David Cowell) Keywords: NOVARTIS/LUNG DRUG (ben.hirschler@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +44 20 7542 5082; Reuters Messaging: ben.hirschler.reuters.com@reuters.net; www.twitter.com/reutersBenHir) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.