Indacaterol once-daily provides superior efficacy to salmeterol twice-daily in COPD: a 12-week study.

BACKGROUND: Indacaterol is a novel, inhaled once-daily ultra-long-acting ß(2)-agonist for the treatment of COPD. METHODS: This 12-week randomised, parallel-group study compared the efficacy of indacaterol 150 µg once-daily to salmeterol 50 µg twice-daily in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD. Assessments included FEV(1) standardised area under curve (AUC) from 5 min to 11 h 45 min at Week 12 (primary endpoint), 24-h trough FEV(1) (mean of 23 h 10 min and 23 h 45 min post-dose) at Week 12 (key secondary endpoint), FEV(1) and FVC measured over 24-h, transition dyspnoea index (TDI) and rescue medication use. RESULTS: Of 1123 patients randomised 92.1% completed. Mean ± SD age was 62.8±8.78 years, post-bronchodilator FEV(1) 51.8±12.32% predicted, FEV(1)/FVC 50.6±9.54%. At Week 12, FEV(1) AUC(5 min-11 h 45 min) for indacaterol was statistically superior (p<0.001) to salmeterol (adjusted mean difference [95% CI] 57 [35, 79] mL), as was 24-h trough FEV(1) (60 [37, 83] mL, p<0.001). Indacaterol also showed statistical superiority over salmeterol in terms of FEV(1) and FVC measured over 24-h at Week 12. For TDI at Week 12, the mean total score was statistically superior for indacaterol versus salmeterol (difference 0.63 [0.30, 0.97], p<0.001), as was the percentage of patients with a clinically relevant (i.e., ≥1 point) change from baseline (69.4% vs 62.7%, p<0.05). For rescue medication, patients on indacaterol used fewer puffs/day (difference -0.18 [-0.36, 0.00] puffs/day, p<0.05) and had a greater percentage of days with no rescue use (difference 4.4 [0.6, 8.2], p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Once-daily indacaterol provided statistically superior bronchodilation with an improvement in breathlessness and rescue use compared with twice-daily salmeterol. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00821093.

Onset of action of indacaterol in patients with COPD: comparison with salbutamol and salmeterol-fluticasone.

BACKGROUND: indacaterol is a novel, inhaled once-daily ultra-long-acting ß(2)-agonist for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). OBJECTIVES: this study compared the onset of action of single doses of indacaterol 150 and 300 µg with salbutamol 200 µg, salmeterol-fluticasone 50/500 µg, and placebo in moderate-to-severe COPD patients. METHODS: this was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study. The primary variable was forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1)) at five minutes postdose. RESULTS: out of 89 patients randomized (mean age 62 years), 86 completed the study. At five minutes postdose, both indacaterol doses were statistically and clinically superior to placebo (P < 0.001), with treatment-placebo differences in FEV(1) of 100 (95% confidence interval [CI] 70-130) mL and 120 (95% CI 90-150) mL for indacaterol 150 and 300 µg, respectively. FEV(1) at five minutes postdose with both indacaterol doses was numerically higher than for salbutamol (10 and 30 mL for indacaterol 150 and 300 µg, respectively) and significantly higher than for salmeterol-fluticasone (50 mL, P = 0.003; 70 mL, P < 0.001, respectively). Moreover, both indacaterol doses showed significantly higher FEV(1) than placebo (P < 0.001) at all postdose time points. The numbers of patients with an FEV(1) increase of at least 12% and 200 mL at five minutes postdose were 16 (18.8%), 24 (27.6%), 20 (23.3%), 8 (9.1%), and 3 (3.4%) for indacaterol 150 and 300 µg, salbutamol 200 µg, salmeterol-fluticasone 50/500 µg, and placebo, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: single doses of indacaterol 150 and 300 µg demonstrated a fast onset of action similar to that for salbutamol and faster than that for salmeterol-fluticasone.