The safety of indacaterol for the treatment of COPD

Introduction: Bronchodilators, namely long-acting inhaled β2-agonists and long-acting muscarinic antagonists, are the first-line medications for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The safety of these medicines is of great concern since COPD patients usually have other co-morbidities such as cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases.

Areas covered: In this review we present information about the safety and the use of indacaterol in COPD. Indacaterol is the first once-daily, long-acting inhaled β2-agonist approved for COPD. We provide data about its mechanism of action as well as, pharmacodynamics and pharmacokynetics. Moreover, we present the available literature data focused on the the safety of indacaterol. Data from post-marketing studies are presented and also data from comparative reviews and meta-analysis.

Expert opinion: Indacaterol’s safety is very favorable since in controlled trials it was similar to placebo. Nevertheless, physicians must be alerted to use indacaterol only according to its approved indications They must be aware of the possible adverse events since side effects may appear when the medicine is used for a prolonged period of time.