European Commission approves Teva's Cinqaero

Israeli generics giant Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE: TEVA) says that the European Commission has granted marketing authorization for Cinqaero (reslizumab) in the 28 countries of the European Union in addition to Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland.

Cinqaero is a humanized interleukin-5 antagonist monoclonal antibody for add-on therapy in adult patients with severe eosinophilic asthma inadequately controlled despite high-dose inhaled corticosteroids plus another medicinal product for maintenance treatment.

The approval follows a positive recommendation in June from the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) in June. Cinqaero is the second humanized interleukin-5 (IL-5) inhibitor to be approved in the EU, with GlaxoSmithKline's potential blockbuster Nucala (mepolizumab) already available on the market. Analysts on average expect Nucala to generate annual sales of $756 million by 2020. However, some believe it has the potential for sales of $1 billion-plus.