A robust clinical development program allowed GlaxoSmithKline PLC to break with precedent and gain a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease indication for Breo Ellipta, a combination of an inhaled corticosteroid and long-acting beta agonist, without first obtaining FDA approval for the individual components and the combination to treat asthma.
The path of LABA and ICS/LABA products to a COPD indication historically has started with asthma because asthmatics have greater...