21st Dec 2006 07:01
Vectura Group PLC21 December 2006 VECTURA ANNOUNCES US COLLABORATION AGREEMENT WITH LEADING INTERNATIONALPHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY FOR COMBINATION ASTHMA THERAPY Chippenham, UK - 21 December 2006: -Vectura Group plc (LSE: VEC) ("Vectura")today announces that it has signed a US collaboration, development and licenceagreement with a leading international pharmaceutical company for Vectura'sVR315 product, a combination asthma therapy. VR315 will be developed as ageneric combination product using Vectura's GyroHaler(R) dry powder inhaler(DPI). This follows the announcement in April 2006 that Vectura had signed anagreement for VR315 covering the European market. Under the terms of the agreement, Vectura will be responsible for the productdevelopment of VR315 for the US market and for establishing the commercialmanufacture and supply of the GyroHaler(R) device for the product. Vectura'spartner will be responsible for the clinical development, manufacture andmarketing of the product for the US market. Vectura will receive a share of profits from all VR315 US sales, as well as upto $63 million upon achievement of pre-determined development and commercialmilestones. Costs for the US development of VR315 will be shared on a definedbasis. Combination therapy is the biggest and fastest growing sector of the respiratorymarket with worldwide annual sales currently exceeding $8 billion and US annualsales estimated to exceed $4 billion. Vectura's GyroHaler(R) is a multi-dose DPI developed with the aim of providing anumber of advantages over other inhaler devices. These include betterconvenience for patients, more consistent, precise dosing and excellent moistureprotection, a key distinguishing factor in inhaled drugs which are in a finepowder form. Dr Chris Blackwell, Chief Executive of Vectura, said: "This deal provides Vectura with another significant development product for theUS respiratory market and is synergistic with our European agreement for VR315.It is further endorsement of the value Vectura can add in respiratory productdevelopment, both with our product development expertise and with our deliverydevices. We are pleased to have met our commitment to deliver this majorlicensing deal." Enquiries: Vectura Group Plc Tel + 44 (0) 1249 667700Chris Blackwell, Chief ExecutiveAnne Hyland, Chief Financial Officer Financial Dynamics Tel: + 44 (0) 207 831 3113David Yates Notes for Editors: About Vectura Vectura's principal focus is the development of a range of inhaled drugs for thetreatment of both lung diseases and other conditions where optimised deliveryvia the lungs can provide significant benefits, such as a rapid onset of action,improved efficacy and improved tolerability compared with current therapies. Vectura's strategy is to combine its proprietary, innovative, pulmonaryformulation and device technologies (PowderHale(R), Aspirair(R) and GyroHaler(R)) with existing, off-patent drugs either for use in new indications or toprovide inhalation as an improved route of administration. The Company seeks tolicense its lead products to pharmaceutical companies with established sales andmarketing infrastructures for the later stages of development and forcommercialisation, typically prior to Phase III clinical development. TheCompany has development collaborations with a number of companies, includingBoehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, GSK and Chiesi. In November 2006 Vecturaannounced the proposed acquisition of Innovata plc. For further information,please visit Vectura's website at www.vectura.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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