Ensifentrine, a first-in-class dual phosphodiesterase 3 and 4 inhibitor, has been found to reduce the risk and rate of exacerbations in patients with moderate to severe COPD.
According to new research published in Chest, researchers looked at 975 patients who were treated with ensifentrine and 574 patients who received placebo as part of a pooled analysis of two phase 3 clinical trials (ENHANCE-1 and ENHANCE-2) that were conducted to test the efficacy of the treatment.
Approximately 62% of the patients in the study were also receiving concomitant, long-acting muscarinic antagonist therapy or long-acting beta-2 agonists, and 18% were receiving concomitant inhaled corticosteroid therapy.
“Ensifentrine was associated with significant reductions in the rate and risk of moderate to severe exacerbations compared with placebo,” the researchers wrote. “Reductions in the rate and risk of exacerbations generally were consistent across patient subgroups, including age, sex, race, background maintenance medication use, chronic bronchitis, eosinophil count, COPD severity and exacerbation history.”
