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Triple therapy with twice-daily budesonide (at either the 160-μg or 320-μg dose), glycopyrrolate, and formoterol resulted in a lower rate of moderate or severe COPD exacerbations than glycopyrrolate-formoterol or budesonide-formoterol. The incidence of any adverse event was similar across the treatment groups (range, 61.7 to 64.5%) the incidence of confirmed pneumonia ranged from 3.5 to 4.5% in the groups that included inhaled glucocorticoid use and was 2.3% in the glycopyrrolate-formoterol group.
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Similarly, the rate was significantly lower with 160-μg-budesonide triple therapy than with glycopyrrolate-formoterol (25% lower: rate ratio, 0.75 95% CI, 0.69 to 0.83 P<0.001) or budesonide-formoterol (14% lower: rate ratio, 0.86 95% CI, 0.79 to 0.95 P = 0.002). The rate was significantly lower with 320-μg-budesonide triple therapy than with glycopyrrolate-formoterol (24% lower: rate ratio, 0.76 95% confidence interval, 0.69 to 0.83 P<0.001) or budesonide-formoterol (13% lower: rate ratio, 0.87 95% CI, 0.79 to 0.95 P = 0.003). The annual rates of moderate or severe exacerbations were 1.08 in the 320-μg-budesonide triple-therapy group (2137 patients), 1.07 in the 160-μg-budesonide triple-therapy group (2121 patients), 1.42 in the glycopyrrolate-formoterol group (2120 patients), and 1.24 in the budesonide-formoterol group (2131 patients). The modified intention-to-treat population comprised 8509 patients.
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The primary end point was the annual rate (the estimated mean number per patient per year) of moderate or severe COPD exacerbations, as analyzed in the modified intention-to-treat population with the use of on-treatment data only. In a 52-week, phase 3, randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of triple therapy at two dose levels of inhaled glucocorticoid in patients with moderate-to-very-severe COPD and at least one exacerbation in the past year, we assigned patients in a 1:1:1:1 ratio to receive twice-daily inhaled doses of triple therapy (inhaled glucocorticoid, a LAMA, and a LABA ) or one of two dual therapies (18 μg of glycopyrrolate plus 9.6 μg of formoterol or 320 μg of budesonide plus 9.6 μg of formoterol).
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Triple fixed-dose regimens of an inhaled glucocorticoid, a long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA), and a long-acting β 2-agonist (LABA) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have been studied at single dose levels of inhaled glucocorticoid, but studies at two dose levels are lacking.
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