Teva Launches Generic Salmeterol in the U.K. To Compete With GSK's Serevent

Teva Launches Generic Salmeterol in the U.K. To Compete With GSK's Serevent

Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. has succeeded in piercing the market exclusivity surrounding GlaxoSmithKline PLC's inhaled asthma products with a "first-to-market" launch on Oct.7 in the U.K. of a salmeterol xinafoate inhaler.

Salmeterol is the generic form of GSK's Serevent, which has relatively small sales in the U.K. In 2010, its local revenues amounted to £36 million ($56 million). But Teva's success in being the first generics company to market a salmeterol inhaler surely brings it a step closer to a more lucrative opportunity: the possibility of developing a competitor to GSK's combination asthma product, Seretide/Advair (salmeterol plus fluticasone propionate). Global Seretide/Advair sales were £5.1 billion in 2010, and even in England they were £200 million, more than seven times higher than Serevent's sales.