Boehringer-Ingelheim unveils results of COPD trial

Boehringer-Ingelheim has released the findings of its UPLIFT trial into the use of tiotropium (Spiriva Handihaler 18 g) in patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) of moderate severity.

The trail showed that administering tiotropium to treat COPD sufferers resulted in noticeable and sustained improvements in lung function for up to a timeframe of four years.

Overall, 2,739 individuals participated in the study, making the trial subjects the largest group of early stage COPD patients treated with a long-acting anticholinergic in a randomised, placebo-controlled study.

Professor Marc Decramer, lead investigator of the UPLIFT trial and chief of the respiratory division at the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium, said that the study shows that tiotropium is effective in the early treatment of COPD.

Boehringer-Ingelheim announced at the beginning of this month that it plans to initiate a phase III trial into the role of BIBW 2992 (Tovok) in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor mutations.