Asthma Control Improved With Treatment Combination
Fluticasone furoate combined with vilanterol improved asthma control without increasing the risk of serious adverse events compared with usual care, according to a recent study.
The open-label, randomized controlled trial was conducted at 74 general practice clinics in the United Kingdom and included 4233 adult patients with asthma on maintenance inhaler therapy. Patients were randomly assigned to a combination therapy of 100 μg or 200 μg dosage of fluticasone furoate with 25 μg dosage of vilanterol (n=2114) or usual care (n=2119) and were followed for 12 months. The primary endpoint of the study was the percentage of patients with asthma control test (ACT) scores of 20 or greater or an increase in ACT scores from baseline of 3 or more at 24 weeks.
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After 24 weeks, 977 out of 1373 (71%) patients who received fluticasone furoate and vilanterol responded to treatment compared with 784 out of 1399 patients (56%) who received usual care (odds ratio [OR] 2). Compared with baseline ACT scores, the mean ACT score increased by 4.4 points among patients who received fluticasone furoate and vilanterol and by 2.8 among those who received usual care. This difference remained consistent throughout the study.
In addition, the researchers did not observe any differences in rates of pneumonia or other serious adverse events between groups.
“In patients with a general practitioner's diagnosis of symptomatic asthma and on maintenance inhaler therapy, initiation of a once-daily treatment regimen of combined fluticasone furoate and vilanterol improved asthma control without increasing the risk of serious adverse events when compared with optimised usual care,” the researchers concluded.
—Melissa Weiss
Reference:
Woodcock A, Vestbo J Bakerly ND, et al. Effectiveness of fluticasone furoate plus vilanterol on asthma control in clinical practice: an open-label, parallel group, randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2017; 390 (10109): 2247–2255. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32397-8.