Drug Utilization Study for Olodaterol

Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH (BI) developed olodaterol, an inhaled long-acting beta2-agonist (LABA), for the indication of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Because the use of LABAs has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality in patients with asthma, the health authorities requested the conduct of a post-approval drug utilisation study to assess potential off-label use of olodaterol in asthma and to characterise the use of olodaterol in clinical practice. The single agent indacaterol, the only other marketed LABA authorised in clinical practice for COPD but not for asthma, will also be assessed. Study objectives include the following: (1) Quantify the frequency of off-label use of olodaterol and indacaterol among new users of these medications; and (2) Describe the baseline characteristics of new users of olodaterol and indacaterol. This cross-sectional study will use information among new users of olodaterol or indacaterol collected in the following healthcare databases: the PHARMO Database Network in the Netherlands, the National Registers in Denmark, and the IMS Health Information Solutions (IMS) Real-World Evidence (RWE) Longitudinal Patient Database (LPD) in France. The source population is all patients enrolled in the selected study databases at the date olodaterol became available in each database's country. The study groups are those patients from the source population who receive a first dispensing for single-agent formulations of olodaterol for the primary objective or indacaterol for the secondary objective and have at least 12 months of continuous enrolment in the study databases. The study will describe the number and proportion of new users by indication and potential off-label use and according to medical history and use of co-medications.