Olodaterol: a review of its use in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Olodaterol (Striverdi(®) Respimat(®)) is an inhaled long-acting β2-adrenoceptor agonist (LABA) indicated as a once-daily maintenance bronchodilator therapy in adults with COPD. Several well-designed phase III trials have assessed use of the drug over 6 or 48 weeks in this patient population. In these studies, once-daily olodaterol improved lung function relative to placebo over 48 weeks of treatment, with such improvements being achieved and maintained within the 24-h dosage interval, supporting its once-daily administration. In addition, combined analyses of 48-week trials indicated that olodaterol reduces rescue medication use and may also improve dyspnoea and health-related quality of life, and crossover studies showed improvements in exercise endurance after 6 weeks of treatment with the drug. Pooled analyses of crossover studies assessing 24-h bronchodilation after 6 weeks of therapy indicated that once-daily olodaterol has a 24-h bronchodilatory profile generally similar to that of once-daily tiotropium bromide and twice-daily formoterol. Olodaterol was generally well tolerated and had an acceptable cardiovascular and respiratory adverse event profile. However, further longer-term and active comparator-controlled studies would be beneficial, including trials powered to assess COPD exacerbations.