UPDATE: Novartis Drug More Effective In Treating Smoker's Lung
(Rewrites and adds detail and comment.)
By Katharina Bart and Julia Mengewein
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
ZURICH -(Dow Jones)- Swiss drug maker Novartis AG (NVS) said Tuesday its
experimental respiratory drug QAB149 improved lung function and reduced
breathlessness in a late-stage trial with patients suffering from chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD.
Patients with COPD, commonly known as smoker's lung, saw 20% more days free of
relief medication to treat acute episodes of severe breathlessness with once-
daily treatment QAB149 than with tiotropium, Novartis said. Tiotropium is sold
by Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH as Spiriva.
At 0720 GMT, Novartis shares traded up 0.44 Swiss francs ($0.42), or 0.9%, at
CHF49.86, outperforming the Swiss blue-chip SMI index, which traded up 0.1%.
Novartis shares have shed around 6.2% of their value since the start of the
year, underperforming the Dow Jones Stoxx Europe 600 health care index, which
has gained 4.1% over the period.
"The potential superiority of QAB149 over gold standard treatment Spiriva is
very reassuring and could lead to increased revenue forecasts going forward,"
said Andrew Weiss, analyst at Vontobel. He rates Novartis at buy.
While Zuercher Kantonalbank analysts expect the drug to generate as much as $
1.3 billion in sales in its best years, Birgit Kuhlhoff of Rahn & Bodmer takes a
more cautious stance.
"The other gold standard treatment for COPD, GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) Advair,
is losing patent protection in 2011, so pricing will become an issue for
Novartis," said Kuhlhoff, who has Novartis on her recommendation list. She
doesn't expect the drug to reach $1 billion in sales.
The Basel-based drug maker gave the update from Phase III trials of the drug
in connection with a respiratory health meeting in Vienna this week.
The most common adverse reactions to QAB149 observed in the study were
nasopharyngitis, coughs, upper respiratory tract infections and headaches,
Novartis said, though most cases were mild or moderate, and became less frequent
if treatment was continued.
"These indacaterol (QAB149) data, in effect, mean that the improvements in
lung function are accompanied by important quality-of-life improvements that our
patients need," said Professor Ronald Dahl, of the University Hospital of
Aarhus, Denmark. He is one of the lead investigators of the study.
The data is noteworthy because Novartis expects QAB149 to lay the foundation
for a portfolio of respiratory drugs that will include fixed-dose combinations
of this with other treatments.
Company Web site: www.novartis.com
-By Katharina Bart, Dow Jones Newswires; +41 43 443 80 45; katharina.bart@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
09-15-090404ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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