Results from the Prevention Of Exacerbations with Tiotropium in COPD (POET-COPD) study published in the New England Journal of Medicine show a significant reduction in exacerbations for COPD patients treated with tiotropium compared to those treated with salmeterol. The one-year study involved almost 7400 patients with moderate to severe COPD, half of whom were treated with a once-daily 18 μg dose of tiotropium and half of whom used a 50 μg dose of salmeterol twice a day.
The tiotropium group experienced fewer exacerbations, longer time to first exacerbation, and longer time to first severe exacerbation than the salmeterol group. Approximately 1.7% of the tiotropium group died over the course of the year, compared to 2.1% of the salmeterol group.
The study was funded by Boehringer Ingelheim and Pfizer.
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