Inhaled-drug specialist Vectura Group has struck a new U.S. partnership deal for its generic lung drug VR315, which is widely thought by analysts to be a copy of GlaxoSmithKline’s top-selling Advair. The collaboration, development and licence agreement has been signed with a U.S. division of an undisclosed leading international pharmaceutical company, Vectura said on Wednesday. VR315 is a key product for the British group and a decision in March by Sandoz, the generic division of Novartis , to hand back U.S. rights to the drug was a serious setback. Sandoz is continuing to develop the medicine for the European market.
