Researchers found no safety signals among patients diagnosed with moderate-to-severe COPD who were taking Brovana with the commonly prescribed Spiriva, reports Medpage Today.
Among the 185 patients in a year-long clinical trial who were on both agents, 30 hospitalizations occurred among 22 patients. In contrast, among 162 patients on placebo and tiotropium, there were 35 hospitalizations among 25 patients, reported James Donohue, MD, of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
In addition, at his poster discussion presentation at CHEST 2016, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, Donahue said that of the 235 patients on arformoterol alone there were 17 hospitalizations in 14 patients. Among the 259 placebo patients, there were 32 hospitalizations in 25 patients.
About 9% of patients on the combination and 9% of those on tiotropium plus placebo required hospitalization during the 52 weeks of the trial; 5% of the patients on arformoterol and tiotropium and 8% of the patients on tiotropium and placebo were hospitalized two or more times.
“Current COPD guidelines support the combined use of one of more classes of long-acting bronchodilators for patients with COPD whose symptoms are not controlled by monotherapy,” Donohue told MedPage Today. “This post-hoc analysis shows that the use of nebulized arformoterol in combination with tiotropium may improve real-world outcomes such as COPD-related hospitalizations as compared with tiotropium alone.”
