GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) recently announced that two of its latest approved products are now available in retail pharmacies across the United States to treat both chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. In the United States over the last fifteen months, the company has launched four inhaled therapies to address respiratory conditions, all delivered through the Ellipta inhaler.
COPD is a very serious progressive and chronic disease that can compromise the ability to breathe adequately. There is still no cure for the chronic condition. Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease characterized by bronchial spasms of the lungs, resulting in breathing difficulty.
Arnuity Ellipta (fluticasone furoate inhalation powder), a one-time-per-day inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) medicine, is intended for patients with asthma as a maintenance treatment. This is the first product introduced in the United States in the Ellipta inhaler for this purpose of treating asthma.
Arnuity Ellipta is recommended as a once-daily support treatment to address asthma as prophylactic therapy in patients ages 12 years and older. The therapy is not suited for the alleviation of acute bronchospasm. It functions to help reducing inflammation associated with asthma and it also helps to control and prevent the symptoms of asthma. The Arnuity Ellipta’s approved doses, available in the market, are 100mcg and 200mcg, respectively.
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Furthermore, GSK announced that Incruse Ellipta (umeclidinium bromide), an anticholinergic indicated for the long-term, once-daily maintenance treatment of airflow obstruction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), treats both chronic bronchitis and/or emphysema. Incruse is the first anticholinergic monotherapy from GSK; this type of bronchodilator can relax the airway’s smooth muscles and also improve the airflow in and out of the lungs.
Jorge Bartolome, the GlaxoSmithKline’s Vice President of the Respiratory Business Unit in the United States, added: “We’re excited to share this news with patients. Forty years after the launch of our first respiratory therapy, we remain committed to innovation and helping a wide range of appropriate patients. These are the third and fourth respiratory products we’ve introduced since October 2013 in our patented Ellipta inhaler. The Ellipta allows for a common inhaler platform across our inhaled therapies approved since 2013.”