According to Vectura, the English High Court has dismissed all claims in a “passing off” case brought by GlaxoSmithKline in which GSK charged that of Sandoz’s AirFluSal Forspiro DPI looks too similar to Seretide Accuhaler. Both inhalers and their packaging feature a similar shade of purple.
Vectura noted that GSK has filed similar cases in a number of European countries, none of which has succeeded. The AirFluSal Forspiro salmeterol/fluticasone DPI (formerly VR 315) was first approved in Denmark in 2013 and has since been approved in much of Europe. Sandoz launched the inhaler in the UK in November 2015.
In the US earlier this year, Vectura won a patent infringement suit against GSK related to Ellipta DPI products in which a jury awarded Vectura almost $90 million. The judge in that case recently increased the amount of that award by a substantial amount.
Read the Vectura press release.
