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Combined therapies for COPD reduce exacerbations, improve lung function, say German researchers
ScienceDaily.com
Patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can benefit from triple therapy that includes a long-acting β-agonist (LABA), an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) and an anti-muscarinic agent, according to researchers in Germany.
In the study, which will appear in the Oct. 15 issue of the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, researchers found that adding budesonide, an ICS, and formoterol, a LABA, to the anti-muscarinic agent, tiotropium, reduced the rate of severe exacerbations in COPD patients by 62 percent.
In the United States, the budesonide/fomoterol combination is available under the brand name Symbicort. Tiotropium is available as Spiriva.
Triple therapy also resulted in significant improvements on a number of outcome parameters in COPD patients, including lung function, signs and symptoms, and quality of life.
“This approach is of interest because the goal of COPD management is to achieve optimal control,” wrote lead author, Prof. Tobias Welte, M.D., head of the Department of Respiratory Medicine of the Hannover Medical School in Germany.
While current guidelines suggest using both LABA and/or muscarinic antagonists and ICS in only a small number of patients, triple therapy is more widely used in clinical practice than officially recommended, but the benefits have never been demonstrated in a randomized controlled trial.
