The aim of the study was to compare the safety and effectiveness of as-needed formoterol with salbutamol in a large international real-life asthma study. Children and adults (n=18,124) were randomised to 6 months as-needed treatment with open-label formoterol 4.5 microg Turbuhaler or salbutamol 200 microg pressurised metered dose inhaler or equivalent. Primary safety variables were asthma-relat...

Lung function in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can be improved acutely by oral corticosteroids and bronchodilators. Whether clinical improvement can be maintained by subsequent inhaled therapy is unknown. COPD patients (n=1,022, mean prebronchodilator forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) 36% predicted) initially received formoterol (9 microg b.i.d.) and oral prednisolone...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To compare the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of therapy with formoterol and oral slow-release theophylline (THEO) in patients with COPD. DESIGN A randomized, parallel-group study, with double-blind arms for formoterol and placebo (PL) and an open arm for oral slow-release THEO administered in individual doses on the basis of plasma concentrations. SETTING Eighty-one cen...

Pharmacologic treatment of asthma should be done with a stepwise approach recommended in treatment guidelines. If inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) alone are not adequate, ICSs in combination with long-acting β-agonists (LABAs) are now established and widely used as the next step in effective controller therapy. Fixed-dose ICS/LABA combinations in a single device are the preferred form of delivery...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate, using pulmonary function tests, the effectiveness of formoterol as a bronchodilator at 30 min after its administration in patients with poorly reversible COPD. METHODS A prospective study including 40 COPD patients not responding to the short-acting bronchodilator used in the spirometric test-variation of less than 200 mL and less than 7% of predicted in forced expirato...

In the United States, budesonide/formoterol pressurized metered-dose inhaler (pMDI) is approved for treatment of asthma in patients aged ≥12 years whose asthma is not adequately controlled with an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) or whose disease severity clearly warrants treatment with an ICS and a long-acting β(2)-adrenergic agonist. This article reviews studies of budesonide/formoterol pMDI in p...

BACKGROUND The combination of aclidinium bromide, a long-acting anticholinergic, and formoterol fumarate, a long-acting beta2-agonist (400/12 μg twice daily) achieves improvements in lung function greater than either monotherapy in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and is approved in the European Union as a maintenance treatment. The effect of this combination on sympt...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that both salmeterol and formoterol act as partial beta 2 receptor agonists in terms of antagonising the extrapulmonary responses to fenoterol in normal subjects. The aim of the present study was to extend previous observations in evaluating the effect of prior treatment with salmeterol and formoterol on bronchodilator responses to fenoterol, a full beta 2...

The glucocorticoid budesonide and the long-acting beta2-adrenoceptor agonist formoterol are used in asthma therapy for their anti-inflammatory and bronchodilating effects, respectively. Since expression of adhesion molecules on resident cells in the lung plays an important role in asthmatic inflammatory responses, the effects of these drugs on the cytokine-induced intercellular adhesion molecul...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate direct asthma-related costs in Swedish primary care in a real-life setting. DESIGN 12-month open-label study. SETTING Swedish primary care in a real-life setting. PARTICIPANTS 1776 patients with persistent asthma. INTERVENTIONS Patients with persistent asthma were randomised to one of three treatments: a free adjustable combination of budesonide (100-400 microg/inh...