Chippenham, UK – 31 October 2008: Vectura Group plc (“Vectura”; LSE: VEC) today announces that a €7.5 million (£6 million) milestone payment will be received from the leading pharmaceutical company, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH (“Boehringer Ingelheim”), under the worldwide collaboration, development and licence agreement with Vectura.
Under the terms of the non-exclusive agreement, signed in April 2006, Vectura has worked with Boehringer Ingelheim on the development of a fully-integrated, multi-dose dry powder inhaler (DPI). Boehringer Ingelheim is entitled to develop and market its proprietary respiratory medicines in a branded version of the inhaler for the treatment of respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Milestones and equity payments received from Boehringer Ingelheim since April 2006 now total €37.5 million (£30.2 million). Additional milestones will be payable to Vectura for each product developed in the inhaler and Vectura will also receive royalties on global sales of Boehringer Ingelheim products delivered using the inhaler.
Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world’s leading companies developing therapies to treat asthma and COPD, for which the majority of treatments are delivered by inhalation, with Spiriva® being the company’s strongest brand. Global markets are today valued in excess of $23 billion and are forecast to grow to over $46 billion by 2017. Dry powder inhalers are increasingly the first choice for patients with these diseases and it is expected that DPIs will be used to deliver the majority of the drugs sold in these markets by 2011.
Dr Chris Blackwell, Chief Executive of Vectura, commented: “Boehringer Ingelheim has demonstrated a strong commitment to respiratory medicine resulting in the successful development of products such as Spiriva®. In such a high value and competitive market, the technology used to deliver respiratory medicines is key and must enhance the performance of the product. The benefits of a multi-unit dose blister inhaler over single-unit dose inhalers and reservoir inhalers is becoming increasingly apparent to companies intent on optimising the value of their products.
In the large and rapidly-growing respiratory market, Vectura will continue to develop its own products and seek credible and committed partners to realise value from their products using Vectura’s technology.”
Enquiries: Vectura Group plc +44 (0)1249 667 600 Dr Chris Blackwell Anne Hyland Julia Wilson
Financial Dynamics +44 (0)20 7831 3113 David Yates Ben Atwell
