Efficacy and safety of a fixed-dose combination of mometasone furoate and formoterol fumarate in subjects with moderate to very severe COPD: results from a 52-week Phase III trial

acy and safety of a fixed-dose combination of mometasone furoate and formoterol fumarate in subjects with moderate to very severe COPD: results from a 52-week Phase III trial Original Research (3622) Total Article Views Authors: Tashkin DP, Doherty DE, Kerwin E, Matiz-Bueno C, Knorr B, Shekar T, Banerjee S, Staudinger H Published Date February 2012 Volume 2012:7 Pages 43 - 55 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/COPD.S27319 Received: 13 October 2011 Accepted: 29 December 2011 Published: 03 February 2012 Donald P Tashkin1, Dennis E Doherty2, Edward Kerwin3, Carlos E Matiz-Bueno4, Barbara Knorr5, Tulin Shekar5, Sibabrata Banerjee5, Heribert Staudinger5 1David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 2Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 3Clinical Research Institute of Southern Oregon, Medford, OR USA; 4Fundación Salud Bosque, Bogota, Colombia; 5Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp, Whitehouse Station, NJ USA Background: A clinical trial of mometasone furoate/formoterol fumarate (MF/F) administered via a metered-dose inhaler in subjects with moderate to very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) investigated the efficacy and safety of a fixed-dose combination of MF/F. Methods: This multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial had a 26-week treatment period and a 26-week safety extension. Subjects (n = 1055; ≥40 years) were current or ex-smokers randomized to twice-daily treatment with inhaled MF/F 400/10 μg, MF/F 200/10 μg, MF 400 μg, F 10 μg, or placebo. The coprimary endpoints of the trial were mean changes from baseline in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) over 0–12 hours (AUC0–12 FEV1) with MF/F versus MF, and in morning predose FEV1 with MF/F versus F. Key secondary endpoints were quality of life (Saint George’s Respiratory Questionnaire [SGRQ]), symptom-free nights, and partly stable COPD at 26 weeks, as well as time to first COPD exacerbation. Results: Significant improvements in FEV1 AUC0–12 occurred at endpoint with MF/F 400/10 and MF/F 200/10 versus MF 400 (P ≤ 0.007). Significant bronchodilation occurred in 5 minutes with MF/F, and serial spirometry demonstrated sustained FEV1 improvements with MF/F over the treatment period. Significant improvements in morning predose FEV1 occurred with both MF/F doses, and these effects were further investigated by excluding results for subjects whose morning FEV1 data were collected >2 days after the last dose of study treatment. Improvements in SGRQ total scores surpassed the minimum clinically important difference of at least 4 units with MF/F 400/10. MF/F 400/10 significantly reduced the time-to-first COPD exacerbation. Similar proportions of subjects in all five treatment groups reported treatment-emergent adverse events. Rates of pneumonia were low (≤1.0%) across treatment groups. Conclusion: MF/F 400/10 μg twice daily was shown to be an effective therapy for patients with moderate to very severe COPD, and both MF/