Following its filing in Europe in October, Novartis ($NVS) has submitted the once-daily inhaled combination drug QVA149 for approval in Japan for the maintenance treatment of COPD in adults. QVA149 combines fixed doses of two long-acting inhaled bronchodilators, glycopyrronium bromide (licensed from Vectura and its co-development partner Sosei), and indacaterol maleate, in Novartis' Breezhaler single-dose dry powder inhaler. The product has now been launched in Germany and the U.K., and approved in Canada and Australia, and submission in the U.S. is planned for 2014. Press release