Once-daily glycopyrronium bromide, a long-acting muscarinic antagonist, for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review of clinical benefit

BACKGROUND Long-acting bronchodilators are central in the pharmacological management of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The aim of this systematic review is to provide an overview of the studies evaluating the safety and clinical efficacy of inhaled glycopyrronium bromide, a novel long-acting muscarinic antagonist, in patients with COPD. METHODS This study was performed as a systematic literature review. RESULTS Inhaled glycopyrronium bromide seems to be a safe and well tolerated long-acting muscarinic antagonist with a fast onset of action. In patients suffering from moderate to severe COPD, glycopyrronium bromide has clinically important effects on level of forced expiratory volume in one second, use of relief medication, percentage of days with no use of rescue medication, daytime dyspnea scores, and probably also on health status. Furthermore, in this group of patients, glycopyrronium bromide has beneficial effects on dynamic hyperinflation and exercise tolerance. Glycopyrronium bromide has been shown to reduce the rate of exacerbations in patients with moderate to severe COPD, but long-term controlled trials with exacerbation rate as the primary outcome variable have not been published yet. CONCLUSION Once-daily inhaled glycopyrronium bromide has characteristics important for use in COPD, including a fast onset of action, sustained 24-hour bronchodilatation, and improvement in exercise tolerance, and therefore appears to have the potential for a significant role in the future management of COPD.