Teva gets FDA approval of asthma drug Cinqair

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Cinqair (reslizumab) Injection, an interleukin 5 antagonist monoclonal antibody (IgG4 kappa) indicated for add-on maintenance treatment of patients with severe asthma aged 18 years and older, and with an eosinophilic phenotype.

Cinqair, from Israeli drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE: TEVA), is administered by intravenous (IV) infusion at a weight-based dose of 3mg/kg once every four weeks. The treatment is expected to become commercially available to patients, by prescription, during the second quarter of 2016, the company said. This is the first ever approval of the drug.

The market for asthma treatments will remain relatively flat, increasing slightly from $15.9 billion in 2014 to $16.2 billion in 2024 across the seven major markets (the USA, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and Japan), according to a recent report from Decision Resources.