The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has approved GlaxoSmithKline’s Anoro Ellipta (umeclidinium/vilanterol) for the relief of various symptoms due to airway obstruction with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (chronic bronchitis, pulmonary emphysema) (in the case where concurrent use of long-acting inhaled muscarinic antagonist and long-acting inhaled beta2 agonist is required).

Anoro is a once-daily combination treatment comprised of two bronchodilators, umeclidinium (UMEC), a long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA), and vilanterol (VI), a long-acting beta2 agonist (LABA), in a single inhaler, the Ellipta. The approved dose in Japan is UMEC/VI 62.5/25mcg delivered once daily.

Darrell Baker, SVP & Head, GSK Global Respiratory Franchise, said, “There are many people living with COPD in Japan whose ability to breathe is compromised by their condition. Our goal at GSK is to provide physicians with an expanded range of COPD medicines which enable a patient-centric approach to treatment, as recommended by global guidelines. We are delighted that Anoro Ellipta is now approved in Japan, making it the first GSK COPD treatment to gain Japanese regulatory approval in five years, and we believe it will be an important new once-daily dual bronchodilator treatment option for appropriate COPD patients.”

“We are very pleased with this latest regulatory approval for Anoro Ellipta,” said Rick E Winningham, chief executive officer of Theravance. “This milestone is a further demonstration of the ongoing successful Theravance and GSK collaboration in respiratory medicine and we are looking forward to being able to make this new medicine available for appropriate COPD patients in Japan.”

Under the terms of the 2002 LABA collaboration agreement, Theravance is obligated to make a milestone payment of $10 million (USD) to GSK following MHLW approval of UMEC/VI in Japan.

Following this approval, it is expected that launch will take place in Japan in Q3 2014.

The MHLW assessment of UMEC/VI involved a review of eight phase III clinical trials, evaluating approximately 6,000 COPD patients worldwide, including a specific 52 week, open-label, long-term safety study in Japanese patients.

COPD is a disease of the lungs that includes chronic bronchitis, emphysema or both. It is characterised by obstruction to airflow that interferes with normal breathing. COPD is thought to affect approximately 8.6% of the population aged over 40 in Japan.

Anoro and Ellipta are trademarks of the GSK group of companies.