Novartis says new drug to improve lung functions

The Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis announced Thursday that it has a new a drug which will offer better help to sufferers of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

The QAB149 drug, after phase III trials, showed it could deliver improved lung function within five minutes of the first dose, lasting for 24 hours. This would mean suffers would only need one dose a day.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases can be life-threatening respiratory diseases that affect some 210 million people worldwide, mostly as a result of smoking cigarettes or inhalation of other fumes.

The World Health Organization estimates the diseases are becoming one of the leading causes of deaths worldwide.

QAB149 is currently undergoing regulatory review in the European Union and the United States.

Source : www.monstersandcritics.com