www.fdanews.com/articles/70254-glaxosmithkline-and-astrazeneca-clash-on-asthma-drug-claims
GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca Clash on Asthma Drug Claims
March 24, 2005
GlaxoSmithKline Plc said on Thursday its asthma drug Advair/Seretide beat AstraZeneca Plc's Symbicort in a one-year clinical study, reviving rival claims about the two products. Asthmatics who took Advair had on average 24 more symptom-free days than those on Symbicort in the 688-patient CONCEPT study and experienced nearly 50 percent fewer moderate or severe exacerbations of their disease. Europe's biggest drugmaker is expected to use the results, published in the journal Clinical Therapeutics, to defend its dominant position in respiratory medicine as AstraZeneca moves to launch Symbicort in the all-important U.S. market in 2006.