By Sam Cage
ZURICH (Reuters) - Novartis's <NOVN.VX> QAB149 significantly improved lung function when compared with two other approved respiratory disease medicines in late stage clinical trials, the Swiss drugmaker said on Thursday.
All doses of once-daily QAB149 met their main target in Phase III trials for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or "smoker's lung."
The drug is currently being reviewed for approval in the European Union and the United States and Trevor Mundel, head of development at Novartis Pharma, believes it will be on the market next year and could be a big seller.
"I think QAB becomes a very substantial opportunity," Mundel told Reuters. "I think heading towards a blockbuster."
Blockbusters are defined in the pharmaceuticals industry as products with annual sales of $1 billion or more.
The medicine showed significant improvements over bronchodilators formoterol and tiotropium and significantly improved lung function from the first day of therapy to up to one year of treatment, Novartis said.
Formoterol is marketed under various trade names by companies including Novartis, Schering-Plough Corp <SGP.N>, and AstraZeneca <AZN.L>. Tiotropium is the generic name for Spiriva, marketed by Pfizer <PFE.N> and Boehringer Ingelheim.
COPD is a debilitating and progressive respiratory disease that affects 210 million people worldwide, according to Novartis.
It is commonly caused by cigarette smoke and other harmful fumes and is characterised by a persistent obstruction of airflow in the lungs which results in breathlessness.
Novartis is planning to use QAB149 both on its own and as the base of combination treatments with other lung medicines.
One such combination product is QVA149 -- a mix of QAB149 and Vectura Group's <VEC.L> NVA237 -- which is expected to enter Phase III clinical trials in the fourth quarter.
Another is QMF149, which combines QAB149 and Schering-Plough's mometasone, for which Novartis assumed worldwide rights in a deal announced earlier this week.
(Additional reporting by Ben Hirschler in London; editing by Simon Jessop and Hans Peters)