A study appearing online first in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that “Tiotropium Respimat at a dose of 5 μg or 2.5 μg had a safety profile and exacerbation efficacy similar to those of tiotropium HandiHaler at a dose of 18 μg in patients with COPD.” According to the authors, the TIOSPIR randomized, double-blind, parallel-group trial of more than 17,000 COPD patients found tiotropium Respimat comparable to the HandiHaler version for both risk of death and risk of first exacerbation.
The study was sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim.
Read the NEJM abstract
(full article available 9/8/13)