Taking Novartis' lung drug Onbrez Breezhaler alongside Pfizer's Spiriva HandiHaler gives patients better lung functions than just taking the Pfizer treatment alone, two late-stage studies showed.
The results of the studies in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were presented yesterday at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) congress in Colorado.
The two classes of medicines have different modes of action, but both therapies are inhaled to provide bronchodilation, or increased airflow into the patient's lungs, Novartis said.
"Previous studies have demonstrated the safety and efficacy profile of Onbrez Breezhaler as monotherapy in COPD, and the latest results indicate that it may have even greater therapeutic potential when combined with another leading class of treatment," said Trevor Mundel, global head of development at Novartis Pharma AG.
COPD is a progressive, life-threatening respiratory disease commonly caused by cigarette smoke and other harmful fumes and particles, resulting in inflammation and narrowing of airways.
It affects 210 million people worldwide and is projected to be the third leading cause of death by 2020, Novartis said.
Onbrez Breezhaler won European Union approval in COPD in November 2009, boosting the Swiss drugmaker's ambitions in respiratory medicine, a field currently dominated by GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
The US Food and Drug Administration is due to rule whether it will back the drug in July.
Reuters
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/VR3765MFOBH2NMV2QNICYDF67M.png)