'All I want for christmas is two': The advent of novel fixed-combination inhalers for COPD and outlook for 2014

摘要

Looking back, there has never been a year with a greater number of novel drug approvals or filings in the history of pharmacological treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). As COPD treatment often involves a combination of therapies in clinical routine, the recent approval of two novel fixed-combination inhalers is of particular interest: the once-daily combination of an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), fluticasone furoate, with a long-acting beta-agonist (LABA) vilanterol (Breo?/Relvar?, GlaxoSmithKline/Theravance), was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the US market (press release October 30, 2013 [1]), and the once- daily fixed combination of two already marketed bronchodilator monotherapies, the long-acting beta-agonist indacaterol and the long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) glycopyrronium (Ultibro?, Novartis), was granted approval by the European Medicines Agency for countries of the EU [2].