Single inhaler triple therapies providing an inhaled corticosteroid, a long-acting muscarinic antagonist, and a long-acting β<sub>2</sub>-agonist (ICS/LAMA/LABAs) are an emerging treatment option for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
In a real world setting of COPD treatment, the triple combination of LAMA, LABA and ICS inhalers is generally as effective as combining LAMA and LABA inhalers in preventing COPD exacerbations.
The first group of COPD patients (n = 30; mild (n = 3), moderate (n = 6), severe (n = 7), very severe (n = 14) as per GOLD II & III criteria was prescribed the standard therapy, a combination of (i) short acting anti-muscarinic agent (SAMA) + short acting β2 agonist (SABA) inhaled and (ii) corticosteroid inhaled (ICS) + long acting β2 agonist (LABA) (iii) ICS + LABA + LAMA.
Aclidinium bromide/formoterol fumarate (AB/FF) 400/12 µg is a twice-daily long-acting muscarinic receptor antagonist and long-acting β<sub>2</sub> agonist (LAMA/LABA) dual-bronchodilator maintenance therapy used to relieve symptoms and reduce future risk of exacerbations in adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Recent updates to the GOLD guidelines emphasize the use of combination LABA and LAMA bronchodilators for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with persistent dyspnea despite monotherapy or frequent exacerbations despite LAMA monotherapy.
Overall use of any COPD regimen remained stable in the year following the formulary listing of LAMA/LABA combination products in May 2015, as did the use of LABA/ICS (most commonly-used regimen).
<b>Introduction</b>: Triple therapy with two bronchodilators (LABA plus LAMA) and an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) is recommended for patients suffering from severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Of the 12,906 articles found by searching the databases, we obtained data from 10,591 patients with COPD (LABA, n=5,058; LAMA, n=5,533) in seven published studies.
This study intends to establish the use of LABA/LAMA combination therapy in symptomatic patients with mild-to-moderate COPD by demonstrating the superiority of IND/GLY over tiotropium monotherapy.