Efficacy, Safety, Tolerability, and Pharmacokinetics of Indacaterol Salts in Patients With Asthma

Inclusion criteria

• Non-smoker male and female adult patients aged 18-75 years inclusive, who have signed an informed consent form prior to initiation of any study-related procedure, including any adjustments to asthma medication prior to screening.
• Patients with asthma, receiving daily treatment with inhaled corticosteroid.
• Patients with a forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) during screening of ≥ 50% of the predicted normal value for the patient.
• Body mass index (BMI) must be within the range 18-32 kg/m^2 (inclusive).
• Able to communicate well with the investigator and comply with the requirements of the study.

Exclusion criteria

• A urine cotinine level greater than the local laboratory lowest level of quantification (LOQ of 500 ng/ml or lower).
• Patients who have had a severe asthma attack/exacerbation requiring hospitalization in the 6 months prior to screening.
• Patients who have had an emergency room visit for an asthma attack/exacerbation within 6 weeks prior to screening or any time between screening and pre-dose on day 1 of the study.
• Patients who have had a respiratory tract infection within 4 weeks prior to screening or any time between screening and pre-dose on day 1 of the study.
• Patients who require the use of ≥ 8 inhalations per day of the short-acting β2-agonist salbutamol/albuterol (100 μg/90 μg salbutamol/albuterol metered dose inhaler [MDI] or equivalent dose of a dry-powder inhaler [DPI]) on any 2 consecutive days from screening to randomization.
• Patients diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as defined by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines (2008).
• Participation in any clinical investigation within 4 weeks prior to dosing or longer if required by local regulation. Previous participation in a study with either the investigational or comparator drugs does not exclude a patient from participation in this study.
• Significant illness.
• History of being immunocompromised, including a positive human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) test result (ELISA and Western blot).
• A positive hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) or hepatitis C test result.
• Patients who are considered vulnerable as per ICH GCP guidelines.
• Patients with a history of hypersensitivity to indacaterol or to similar drugs including untoward reactions to sympathomimetic amines or inhaled medication or any component thereof.
• Treatments for asthma and allied conditions:
• The following treatments should not be used unless they have been stabilized prior to screening: antihistamines, inhaled nasal cromolyn, inhaled nasal corticosteroids, and maintenance immunotherapy.

Other protocol-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria applied to the study.