Vectura sales trigger $5m milestone receipt

Vectura said on Wednesday that a sales milestone receipt of $5m has been triggered following confirmation by Novartis that EU/Rest of World combined net sales of its Seebri Breezhaler and Ultibro Breezhaler for the year to the end of December have reached $512m.

The milestone will be recorded in the company’s revenues for 2016, as expected at the time of the pre-close trading update earlier this month.

Chief executive officer James Ward-Lilley said: “Vectura's collaboration with Novartis continues to deliver significant value, contributing to total recurring revenues which make up over 75% of group revenues. From their respective launches within only the last five years, Seebri and Ultibro are now established and substantial global products having achieved over $0.5bn in combined net sales in 2016.

“Ultibro in particular continues to grow strongly, fuelled by the positive results of the FLAME study and with further potential both from the recent change to the GOLD guidelines and the planned 2017 US launch by Sunovion. We also look forward to further progress of the Novartis asthma triple programme QVM149, which is currently in Phase III with first planned submissions in 2019."