Cost A Focus As GSK Takes Lead In New Wave Of Biotech Lung Drugs
Biotechnology News
Rival firms including Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and AstraZeneca are racing to develop similar injectable drugs for patients with severe asthma, who do not respond adequately to traditional inhalers. GSK, the leader in asthma treatments since launching its Ventolin inhaler in 1969, consolidated its position in the new field by presenting late-stage Phase III data on its experimental drug mepolizumab at the European Respiratory Society congress in Munich on Monday. The company plans to submit an under-the-skin mepolizumab injection for regulatory approval before the end of 2014, while Teva, which also unveiled positive Phase III data in Munich, aims to file its drug reslizumab in the first half of 2015. AstraZeneca's benralizumab is further behind, although it is seen as a potentially potent competitor.
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