Glaxo raises stake in US biotech firm
Shares in the south San Francisco-based company jumped 15 per cent to $22.40 on the news.
Britain’s biggest drugmaker has been working with Theravance for 10 years to develop Relovair, an inhaled therapy combining two ingredients, which is a potential successor to GSK’s $8bn-a-year top-seller Advair.
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Hide AdRelovair will be submitted to regulators for approval as a treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in mid-2012. The new drug has had mixed results in clinical trials, showing superiority to Advair in some tests but not others.
Still, GSK remains confident and hopes the convenience of once-daily dosing will appeal to patients, helping Relovair carve out good sales as a replacement for twice-daily dose needed for Advair.