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news.Patients with pulmonary disease, a smoking related condition, have been found to benefit from treatment with Spiriva, a drug marketed by Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim together with US firm, Pfizer.
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The study of 554 patients found that nine months treatment with Spiriva (tiotropium) produced statistically and clinically significant improvements in health-related quality of life including sustained improvements in lung function for the duration of the experiment.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive respiratory disease that causes significant deterioration of lung function and chronic breathlessness, often impeding the sufferer’s ability to perform daily activities. COPD is currently the fourth leading cause of death worldwide, claiming 2.75 million lives annually.
The double-blind study of patients with moderate COPD used the Saint George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) to measure health related quality of life. The results show that 23% more Spiriva patients experienced improvement in SGRQ score than those receiving placebo.
Andre-Bernard Tonnel, from the Centre Hospitalier Regional et Universitaire de Lille described the study as encouraging. He explained why the primary endpoint for the study was a change in health status: “Improved health status, or quality of life, is one of the main parameters for judging efficacy of prescribed therapies in daily practice.”
Last year sales of Spiriva more than doubled to $664 million following the drug’s launch in the US and Japan. Boehringer now expects this years sales to reach $1 billion.