GSK Singapore has announced that the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has approved a new indication and a new strength for Trelegy Ellipta (fluticasone furoate/umeclidinium/vilanterol 'FF/UMEC/VI') for the maintenance treatment of asthma in patients aged 18 years and older who are not adequately controlled with a combination of a long-acting beta2-agonist (LABA) and an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS).

This adds to its current license for use in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and makes Trelegy Ellipta the first once-daily single inhaler triple therapy approved for use in both asthma and COPD in Singapore.

This approval is based on the CAPTAIN study which has shown that in patients uncontrolled on ICS/LABA, the additional bronchodilation provided by Trelegy had demonstrated significant improvements in lung function compared with fluticasone furoate/vilanterol (FF/VI), in a single daily dose in an easy-to-use inhaler.

With the new approval, the available HSA-approved strength for either COPD or asthma is fluticasone furoate/umeclidinium/vilanterol 100/62.5/25mcg, and an additional dosage strength newly approved for asthma at fluticasone furoate/umeclidinium/vilanterol 200/62.5/25mcg.

In Singapore, the asthma mortality rate is three times higher than other developed countries such as New Zealand and the United States of America. This could be attributed to several factors such as low adherence rates to daily medications, poor patient perception of asthma control, misuse of reliever medication and unoptimised treatment.