Boehringer's tiotropium meets Phase III asthma endpoints

Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH (Ingelheim, Germany) said tiotropium delivered by the Respimat Soft Mist inhaler met the primary endpoints in the identical Phase III PrimoTinA-asthma trials in a total of 912 patients with severe persistent asthma. The bronchodilator plus usual care significantly improved peak and trough forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) compared to usual care alone. Tiotropium also significantly increased the time to first severe exacerbation vs. placebo. Usual care included high-dose inhaled glucocorticoids and long acting beta 2 agonists (LABAs). Data were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the European Respiratory Society meeting in Vienna. The PrimoTinA-asthma trials are part of the Phase III UniTinA-asthma program, which is evaluating Spiriva Respimat in over 4,000 asthma patients. ...