Characterization of the bronchodilatory dose response to indacaterol in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease using model-based approaches

Indacaterol is a once-daily long-acting inhaled β₂-agonist indicated for maintenance treatment of moderate-to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The large inter-patient and inter-study variability in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁) with bronchodilators makes determination of optimal doses difficult in conventional dose-ranging studies. We considered alternative methods of analysis.

We utilized a novel modelling approach to provide a robust analysis of the bronchodilatory dose response to indacaterol. This involved pooled analysis of study-level data to characterize the bronchodilatory dose response, and nonlinear mixed-effects analysis of patient-level data to characterize the impact of baseline covariates.

The study-level analysis pooled summary statistics for each steady-state visit in 11 placebo-controlled studies. These study-level summaries encompassed data from 7476 patients at indacaterol doses of 18.75-600 μg once daily, and showed that doses of 75 μg and above achieved clinically important improvements in predicted trough FEV₁ response. Indacaterol 75 μg achieved 74% of the maximum effect on trough FEV₁, and exceeded the midpoint of the 100-140 mL range that represents the minimal clinically important difference (MCID; ≥120 mL vs placebo), with a 90% probability that the mean improvement vs placebo exceeded the MCID. Indacaterol 150 μg achieved 85% of the model-predicted maximum effect on trough FEV₁ and was numerically superior to all comparators (99.9% probability of exceeding MCID). Indacaterol 300 μg was the lowest dose that achieved the model-predicted maximum trough response.

The patient-level analysis included data from 1835 patients from two dose-ranging studies of indacaterol 18.75-600 μg once daily. This analysis provided a characterization of dose response consistent with the study-level analysis, and demonstrated that disease severity, as captured by baseline FEV₁, significantly affects the dose response, indicating that patients with more severe COPD require higher doses to achieve optimal bronchodilation.

Comprehensive assessment of the bronchodilatory dose response of indacaterol in COPD patients provided a robust confirmation that 75 μg is the minimum effective dose, and that 150 and 300 μg are expected to provide optimal bronchodilation, particularly in patients with severe disease.