Tokyo-based Eisai will co-promote three Novartis inhaled COPD therapies in Japan with Novartis Pharma K.K. Starting on December 1, 2011, both companies will promote Onbrez indacaterol inhalation capsules, with Novartis targeting flagship and university hospitals and Eisai focusing on general hospitals and clinicians. Onbrez was launched in Japan in September 2011.
When and if Novartis’s glycopyrronium inhalation product NVA237 and its glycopyrronium/indacaterol fixed dose combination QVA149 are approved, Eisai will also co-promote those drugs.
According to Eisai, “The new co-promotion agreement is a partnership of mutual commitment between Eisai and Novartis Pharma. Novartis Pharma aims to maximize the value of Onbrez, a new long-acting bronchodilator that provides sustained 24-hour efficacy and has a rapid onset of action at first dose, as well as NVA237 and QVA149, which combines indacaterol together with NVA237, while Eisai seeks to further enhance its product portfolio in the area of internal medicine.”
The company’s statement acknowledges that Japan has only 173,000 patients diagnosed with COPD but says that epidemiological data suggest that the actual number of COPD patients could be more than 5 million.
Read the Eisai press release.
