Boehringer Ingelheim reports positive data from Spiriva study

Boehringer Ingelheim has announced the findings of a new analysis of its chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) Spiriva (tiotropium), which underline the drug's safety and efficacy.

The post-hoc analysis of the Uplift trial showed Spiriva was able to significantly reduce the number of COPD exacerbations, as well as prolonging the time to the occurrence of the first incident in patients both at high and low risk of exacerbations compared to placebo.

It was also revealed that one year of Spiriva treatment resulted in a positive shift in the ratio for low/high risk for COPD exacerbations, suggesting the drug has a stabilising effect on the likelihood of disease flare-ups.

Similar findings were seen in a post-hoc analysis of the Poet-COPD trial, which also showed that Spiriva offered superior performance to another COPD therapy.

Dr Claus Vogelmeier, professor of medicine and head of pulmonary division at Marburg University Hospital, said: "This data confirms that tiotropium is effective not only in reducing the number of exacerbations and delaying time to first exacerbation, but also a potential in stabilising the effect on exacerbations."

Earlier this month, the company also reported positive phase III trial data showing the efficacy of nintedanib, its new treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.