Exacerbation Study

Phase 3

Completed

Brief Summary: This study compares indacaterol with tiotropium in terms of bronchodilation over 52 weeks

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Male and female adults aged ≥40 years, who have signed an Informed Consent form prior to initiation of any study-related procedure
Patients diagnosed with COPD at age 40 and over and with a current diagnosis of severe COPD and including:
1. Smoking history of at least 10 pack years, both current and ex-smokers are eligible
2. A documented history of at least 1 moderate or severe exacerbation in the previous 12 months

Exclusion Criteria

Patients who have received systemic corticosteroids and/or antibiotics for a COPD exacerbation in the 6 weeks prior to screening or during the run-in period
Patients who have had a respiratory tract infection within 6 weeks prior to screening
Patients with concomitant pulmonary disease
Patients with a history of asthma
Patients with diabetes Type I or uncontrolled diabetes Type II
Any patient with lung cancer or a history of lung cancer
Patients with a history of certain cardiovascular comorbid conditions

Other protocol-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria may apply

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Indacaterol	Indacaterol 150 µg	Indacaterol 150 µg o.d. delivered via single-dose dry powder inhaler (SDDPI)
Tiotropium	Tiotropium	Tiotropium 18 µg o.d. delivered via the handihaler®

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Trough Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 Second (FEV1).	12 weeks	The primary objective of the study was to demonstrate the non-inferiority of indacaterol vs. tiotropium with respect to 24 hour post dose (trough) FEV1 after 12 weeks of treatment in patients with severe COPD. Trough FEV1 was defined as the average of the 23 hours 10 min and the 23 hours 45 min post dose values. Trough FEV1 was analyzed using a mixed model for the PPS-S. The model contained treatment as a fixed effect with the baseline FEV1, FEV1 prior to inhalation and FEV1 15 min post-inhalation of salbutamol/albuterol (components of SABA reversibility at Visit 2), FEV1 prior to inhalation and FEV1 60 min post-inhalation of ipratropium (components of anti-cholinergic reversibility at Visit 3) as covariates. Smoking history (current or ex-smoker) was included as a factor in the model.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Rate of COPD Exacerbations	52 weeks	COPD exacerbations were defined as :Worsening of 2 or more major symptoms for at least 2 consecutive days: dyspnea; sputum volume; suputum purulence AND requiring treatment with systemic corticosteroids and/or antibiotics OR Worsening of any 1 major symptom together with any 1 of the following minor symptoms for at least 2 consecutive days: Sore throat; colds; fever without other cause; increased cough; increase wheeze AND requiring treatment with systemic glucocorticosteroids and/or antibiotics. The rate was analyzed using a linear model assuming a negative binomial distribution for the PPS-E. The time at risk for a patient was defined as the length of time the patient was in the study and the log(length of time in the study) was used as the offset variable in the model.