VEC.L Share News (VEC)

(ShareCast News) - Inhaled airways disease-focused business Vectura Group confirmed an announcement by its partner Novartis on Thursday.The FTSE 250 firm said the announcement was of positive results from the first large-scale study exploring the effects of directly switching symptomatic, non-frequently exacerbating patients with moderate COPD from their current treatments, including steroid-containing combinations and long-acting bronchodilators, to the dual bronchodilator 'Ultibro Breezhaler' (indacaterol/glycopyrronium) 110/50 mcg product."In the CRYSTAL study, patients with moderate COPD who were switched to Ultibro Breezhaler from their previous therapy experienced superior improvements in lung function and breathlessness at week 12," the board said in its statement."Significantly, CRYSTAL is the first LABA/LAMA pragmatic trial, designed to mimic clinical practice, so treatment switching occurred without a washout period."Vectura said Ultibro Breezhaler was also well tolerated in the CRYSTAL study, and added that the results further supported the 2017 GOLD recommendations that dual bronchodilation should be the foundation treatment for the majority of symptomatic COPD patients.Novartis is a licence partner of Vectura, which developed the Ultibro Breezhaler product.