A Crossover Study to Determine the 24 Hour Lung Function Profile of Indacaterol in Patients With Moderate-to-severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

A Phase III, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Multicenter, 3-period, 14-day Crossover Study to Determine the 24 Hour Lung Function Profile of Indacaterol (300 µg Once Daily [od]) in Patients With Moderate-to-severe COPD, Using Open-label Salmeterol (50 µg Twice Daily [Bis in Die, Bid]) as Active Control

This study was conducted to provide detailed information on the efficacy of indacaterol in terms of its effect on spirometry assessed forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) over a 24 hour time period.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (moderate-to-severe as classified by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) Guidelines, 2006) and:

  1. Smoking history of at least 20 pack-years
  2. Post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) < 80% and ≥ 30% of the predicted normal value
  3. Post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC (forced vital capacity) < 70%

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients who have been hospitalized for a COPD exacerbation in the 6 weeks prior to screening or during the run-in period
• Patients requiring long-term oxygen therapy (> 15 hours a day) for chronic hypoxemia
• Patients who have had a respiratory tract infection within 6 weeks prior to screening
• Patients with concomitant pulmonary disease
• Patients with a history of asthma
• Patients with diabetes Type I or uncontrolled diabetes Type II
• Any patient with lung cancer or a history of lung cancer
• Any patient with active cancer or a history of cancer with less than 5 years disease-free survival time
• Patients with a history of long QT syndrome or whose QTc interval (Bazett's) measured at screening or randomization is prolonged
• Patients who have been vaccinated with live attenuated vaccines within 30 days prior to screening or during the run-in period
• Patients unable to successfully use a dry powder inhaler device or perform spirometry measurements

Other protocol-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria applied to the study.