Boehringer-Ingelheim drug shown to reduce lung function decline

Boehringer-Ingelheim treatment tiotropium (Spiriva) has been shown to reduce the decline of lung function in younger patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

A recently conducted trial, entitled understanding potential long-term impacts on function with tiotropium (UPLIFT), found that when administered to COPD sufferers under the age of 50, 34 per cent of study participants showed a reduction in the rate of lung function deterioration over a four-year period.

The study also discovered that younger patients treated with tiotropium experienced a 27 per cent decreased risk of exacerbations compared with those in the control group.

Professor Roland Buhl, head of the pulmonary department at the University of Mainz, commented: “This new data in younger patients reinforces the imperative to diagnose and treat COPD patients earlier, which is meaningful to both physicians and patients.”

Last week, Boehringer-Ingleheim unveiled the positive results of a trial involving its novel oral direct thrombin inhibitor dabigatran etexilate and said that the outcome had “exceeded expectations”.