The COPD Pipeline XXXVI

Contract Pharma is a publication that reviews, among other things, the pharmaceutical industry annually.Those of us who work in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) take an interest in the source of the drugs we use and Contract Pharma brings that information to us.Each year they report the status of the top 25 pharmaceutical companies. 1For each pharma, a report lists the newly approved drugs, those pending approval, drugs in phase 2, those in early research, drugs coming off patent, and some other less interesting data.There is usually a tussle between Pfizer and Novartis for the top.For the 2017 report (which is based on 2016 sales) Pfizer, Inc., is number 1.As I sift through the top 25 pharma companies, I look for drugs that might be the ones we will one day be prescribing for our patients with COPD.Pfizer has no new COPD drugs anywhere in the process of development unless one includes Prevnar 13 which was just approved.Next is Novartis which has Fevipiprant, an interesting CRTh2 antagonist in phase 1.But it is for an asthma indication.Merck, at number 3, has MK-1029, also a CRTh2 antagonist, but also in trials as a potential asthma therapy.Merck has no agents in development for COPD.Nor, going down the list, has Roche.GlaxoSmithKline has Relvar Elipta (recently approved), a triple for COPD that is pending the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) review, and mepolizumab for COPD.Next on the list are Sanofi, Johnson & Johnson, Gilead, and ABBVie with no COPD drugs.Then AstraZeneca with Bevespi/Aerosphere and benralizumab both in phase 2 for a COPD indication.Teva has several drugs for asthma but none for COPD.Next on the list are Lilly, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Bayer.Finally, Boehringer Ingelheim has worked with Hamni Pharmaceuticals on HCP1202 for COPD.It is in a Phase 2 trial.Then, moving down the list, comes a desert with no potential COPD drugs, -Novo Nordisk, Merck KGAA, Takeda, Allergan, Biogen, Shire, and Celgene.Mylan brings the list to a close with its revefenacin, a nebulized long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) in phase 3. The point here is that the third largest cause of death in most of the world needs more novel therapies.Other than the me-too's, we have just 2 '-lizumabs' in the works for COPD.Cancer, heart, and diseases of ageing are all well represented in late stage development, which is appropriate.But COPD should be up there with them. Autologous bronchial basal cells transplantation isThe COPD Pipeline XXXVI

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