The Relvar Ellipta lung drug
In a sign the pharmaceuticals market is opening up, Tokyo has approved three new lung drugs from Western firms, two of them British, media reported on 22 September.
Among the drugs approved by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare were GlaxoSmithKline and Theravance’s inhaled lung drug Relvar Ellipta, SkyePharma’s Flutiform treatment and Novartis’ Ultibro Breezhaler inhalation capsules.
Japan has the world’s second-biggest medicine market and is quickly becoming an important source of growth for international pharmaceutical players.
