Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC (LON:GSK) reported a double whammy of drug successes on Monday.
GSK and its US partner Innoviva, Inc. (NASDAQ:INVA) said the results from its pioneering Salford Lung Study (SLS) have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
The British group also reported positive initial data from the world's first national meningitis B immunisation programme using its Bexsero vaccine.
The SLS study, which reported headline results in May, was designed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Relvar Ellipta in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), compared with their 'usual care' administered in an everyday clinical practice setting.
GSK said treatment with Relvar Ellipta of patients whose conditions had worsened in the year before the study significantly reduced the rate of moderate or severe deterioration compared with patients receiving standard care.
The global medical head of GSK's respiratory franchise, Neil Barnes, said: "The results from SLS provide robust evidence that will enable the healthcare community to begin to understand how the choice of COPD treatment can significantly influence patient outcomes.
"We are continuing to analyse the data from the study as we know there is so much more we will leare n and we look forward to sharing our findings in future publications."
A second SLS is currently being conducted in patients with asthma, with results expected in 2017.
Meanwhile, GSK said preliminary data from the world’s first national meningitis B immunisation programme with Bexsero1, launched a year ago in the UK, showed the estimated effectiveness of the vaccine at 83% against any meningitis B strain and 94% against vaccine-preventable strains, for all children receiving the first two of three recommended doses.
Reported cases of the disease dropped by half in the vaccine-eligible population in the first ten months of the programme, compared to the average number of cases over the last four years.
Public Health England (PHE) presented the data on Monday at the International Pathogenic Neisseria Conference (IPNC) in Manchester.
GSK Vaccines chief medical officer Thomas Breuer said: “We are extremely encouraged by the initial results of the UK programme, which demonstrate that Bexsero helps to protect babies in the UK from this often life-threatening disease."
Bexsaro is currently the only meningococcal B vaccine licenced in Europe. Shares in GSK fell 13.5p, or 0.8%, to 1641.5p in afternoon London trading.