Singapore: A study presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress at Munich, Germany, by Novartis highlighted that consuming a single dose of Ultibro Breezhaler, reduced the rate of moderate-to-severe exacerbations by 31 percent, as compared to GlaxoSmithKline's blockbuster drug Seretide.

The study involved 744 patients from 56 sites in Argentina, Chile, China and Taiwan. The findings indicated that after 26 weeks of treatment, the Novartis combo also significantly increased lung function as compared to Seretide.

Mr Vasant Narasimhan, head of development, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, said, "The research provided further evidence of the potential of Ultibro Breezhaler to deliver better exacerbation reduction and improvements in lung function, compared to the current treatments."

Recently, Novartis also inked a pact with Pfizer to launch Ultibro and to promote the sales of another drug Seebri (glycopyrronium) in the UK markets.