Vectura boosted by deal with GSK worth over $30 million upfront plus royalties; J&J unit buys rights to Acuform technology

The UK's Vectura Group, which earlier this year suffered a significant blow when Swiss drug major Novartis' generics unit Sandoz returned the US rights for the development and commercialization of VR315, its combination product for asthma/ chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), received a boost this morning when it announced a new deal with UK drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline (The Pharma Letter March 19).

The news was welcomed by investors, and pushed Vectura's share price 24% higher to 61.19 pence in the first hour of trading this morning, though still well below its year high of 77 pence.

The UK-based companies have signed a worldwide non-exclusive agreement for GSK to license some of Vectura's dry powder drug formulation patents in relation to two late-stage development compounds in GSK's respiratory product pipeline. Interestingly, although the composition of VR315 was never officially revealed, it was widely thought to be a generic version of GSK's big selling asthma drug Advair (fluticasone and salmeterol), and its arrival on the market would have put pressure on GSK.