Lupin to co-market Novartis' asthma drug in India

Lupin Limited and Novartis Healthcare Private Limited (NHPL) yesterday entered into a co-marketing agreement to promote Novartis’s indacaterol/glycopyrronium (110 mcg/50 mcg) inhaler, a treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), under the brand name of Loftair. While Lupin will use its own specialty field force to promote Loftair inhaler, NHPL will continue to market indacaterol/glycopyrronium inhaler under its brand name Sequadra through its own sales force.
 
Loftair is a fixed dose combination of two bronchodilators - indacaterol maleate, a long-acting beta2-adrenergic agonist (LABA) and glycopyrronium bromide, a long-acting anticholinergic (LAMA) for the treatment of COPD. Indacaterol/glycopyrronium combination is approved for use in COPD in 82 countries including US, EU, Japan, Canada, countries within Latin America and Australia. The agreement helps address the growing incidence of COPD, by making better treatment options available to patients in India.
   
Shakti Chakraborty, group president, India region formulations, Lupin, said, “We at Lupin are excited about the expansion of our ongoing partnership with Novartis Healthcare Private Limited for the inhalation/COPD segment. We had previously entered into a similar agreement with NHPL to market Onbrez. We are confident that this partnership for Loftair will enable us to further consolidate and strengthen our market leadership within the Indian COPD, anti-asthma, inhalation therapy segments.”
 
Lupin is a market leader, ranked second with 12.4 percent marketshare of the overall anti-asthma segment within the Indian pharmaceutical market, according to IMS MAT, January 2016.
 
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is a progressive illness that includes the conditions emphysema and chronic bronchitis, makes it difficult to breathe, with symptoms that have a destructive impact on patients’ fitness and quality of life. COPD is often considered to be a disease of later years, but estimates suggest that 50 percent of those with COPD are below the age of 65, resulting in increases in absenteeism, premature retirement and reductions in workforce participation.