Patients with COPD using a combination treatment of the twice-daily LAMA aclidinium and the LABA formoterol achieved better lung function than those treated with Advair.
Treatment with the LAMA/LABA bronchodilator therapy resulted in better peak forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) scores than treatment with the LABA-inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), but other measures of health status, including shortness of breath and patient-reported daytime/nighttime symptoms, were similar among the two treatment groups in the 24-week study.
Few patients in the trial developed pneumonia during the 24-week study, but the LABA-ICS-treated patients were approximately three times more likely to be diagnosed with pneumonia than the LAMA/LABA-treated patients were (0.6% versus 1.9%), researcher Claus Vogelmeier, MD, of Philipps University in Marburg, Germany, and colleagues wrote in the study online in the European Respiratory Journal.
“While both treatments were well tolerated, ICS-related adverse events were less common with aclidinium/formoterol. These findings support the GOLD recommendations for LAMA/LABA use in patients with symptomatic COPD and demonstrate that aclidinium/formoterol is an effective treatment for these patients.”
The 24-week, double-blind, active-controlled study included 933 patients with moderate-to-severe COPD (mean age 63.4 years, 65.1% male), who were randomized (1:1) to inhaled aclidinium/formoterol 400/12?g twice daily or inhaled salmeterol/fluticasone 50/500 ?g twice-daily.
