Germany’s Altana, which was left reeling after Pfizer terminated development of its chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma drug Daxas (roflumilast) [[04/07/05a]], has received a boost after the Scottish Medicines Consortium accepted another of the firm’s asthma therapies, Alvesco, for use on the country’s NHS.

In Scotland, 390,000 people are currently receiving treatment for asthma, resulting in some 6,000 hospital admissions. Overall, the UK has the highest prevalence of asthma in the world, costing somewhere in the region of £2.5 billion.

Alvesco is a one puff, once daily, inhaled corticosteroid therapy, indicated to control persistent asthma in adults. The product costs £0.28 per day, or £8.40 per month.