Otsuka launches Meptin Clickhaler in Japan
18 Aug 2005
Otsuka launches Meptin Clickhaler in Japan
Nottingham, UK, 18 August 2005 - Innovata plc (LSE: IOV), a product development company focused on respiratory disease and inhaled therapies, announced today that Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., its Japanese pharmaceutical company partner, is to launch its bronchodilator drug, Meptin, in the Clickhaler in Japan on September 2. This marks the successful realisation of a collaborative development programme first announced in 2002.
Meptin (procaterol) is a successful brand in Japan, generating $66 million in sales and Otsuka are an important participant in the Japanese asthma market. Meptin has previously been sold in conventional HFA spray inhalers and now, as a result of its collaboration with Innovata, it is also available in Clickhaler as a dry powder inhaler. Meptin Clickhaler was approved by the Japanese regulatory authorities in March this year.
Kieran Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of Innovata, commented: “Otsuka’s imminent launch of the Meptin Clickhaler has come as a result of a three year collaboration between the two companies and is testament to our fast-to-market approach. Meptin is the third product to be brought to market in our Clickhaler and we look forward to further product approvals and launches in the coming months.”
Contacts:
Innovata plc
Tel: 0115 974 474
Kieran Murphy, Chief Executive Officer
Paul Ballington, Director of Marketing & Business Development
Financial Dynamics
Tel: 020 7831 3113
Sarah MacLeod / John Gilbert
