Please select the eligibility criteria that correspond to the clinical trial below.
Title: A Phase III Randomised, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Parallel-group Trial to Evaluate Efficacy and Safety of Tiotropium Inhalation Solution Delivered Via Respimat® Inhaler (2.5 and 5 µg Once Daily) Compared With Placebo and Salmeterol HFA MDI (50 µg Twice Daily) Over 24 Weeks in Moderate Persistent Asthma
Brief Summary: The aim of this trial is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of 2.5 and 5 mcg tiotropium over a 24-week treatment period as compared to placebo and salmeterol (50 mcg twice daily). Tiotropium inhalation solution delivered by the Respimat® inhaler will be examined on top of maintenance treatment with inhaled corticosteroid controller medication in patients with moderate persistent asthma. Efficacy and safety will be assessed by measuring effects on lung function, effects on asthma exacerbations, effects on quality of life, effects on asthma control, effects on health care resource utilisation, and number of adverse events.


Options:
A: Inclusion Criteria:

1. Best pre-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) of greater than 40% of their predicted normal value.
2. Patients must have a treatment regimen that includes a short-acting β2 agonist (SABA) (albuterol) for use as needed and either an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) or an ICS/long-acting β2 agonist (LABA) as a preventative treatment for a minimum of 8 weeks before the SV. Patients currently taking low-dose ICS without LABA are not eligible for this study. Patients currently taking low-dose ICS/LABA may only be entered into the mid ICS strength. All patients must have been maintained on a stable dose of ICS or ICS/LABA for 4 weeks prior to the SV (or pre-SV if necessary) at 1 qualifying doses
3. To meet reversibility of disease criteria, the patient must demonstrate a ≥12% reversibility of FEV1 (and 200 mL for patients aged18 years and older) within 30 minutes following 4 inhalations of albuterol at the SV. Historic reversibility within the past 12 months of the SV may be used to meet this criterion.
4. Written informed consent/assent is obtained. For adult patients (aged 18 years and older, or as applicable per local regulations), the written informed consent form (ICF) must be signed and dated by the patient before conducting any study-related procedure. For minor patients (aged 12 to 17 years, or as applicable per local regulations), the written ICF must be signed and dated by the parent/legal guardian and the written assent form must be signed and dated by the patient (if applicable) before conducting any study-related procedure. Note: Age requirements are as specified by local regulations.
5. Outpatient \>= 12 years of age on the date of consent/assent. .
6. Asthma diagnosis: The patient has a diagnosis of asthma as defined by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The asthma diagnosis has been present for a minimum of 3 months and has been stable (defined as no exacerbations and no changes in medication) for at least 30 days before providing informed consent.
7. The patient is able to perform acceptable and repeatable spirometry.
8. The patient is able to perform peak expiratory flow (PEF) with a handheld peak flow meter.
9. The patient is able to use a metered-dose inhaler (MDI) device without a spacer device and a MDPI device.
10. The patient is able to withhold (as judged by the investigator) his or her regimen of ICS or study drug, and rescue medication for at least 6 hours before the SV and before all treatment visits where spirometry is performed.
11. The patient/parent/legal guardian/caregiver is capable of understanding the requirements, risks, and benefits of study participation, and, as judged by the investigator, capable of giving informed consent/assent and being compliant with all study requirements.
12. SABAs: All patients must be able to replace their current SABA with albuterol/salbutamol HFA inhalation aerosol at the SV for use as needed for the duration of the study.
13. Female patients may not be pregnant, breastfeeding, or attempting to become pregnant.

    * -Other criteria may apply, please contact the investigator for more information

Exclusion Criteria:

1. The patient has a history of a life-threatening asthma exacerbation that is defined for this protocol as an asthma episode that required intubation and/or was associated with hypercapnea, respiratory arrest, or hypoxic seizures.
2. The patient is pregnant or lactating, or plans to become pregnant during the study period or for 30 days after the study.
3. The patient has participated as a randomized patient in any investigational drug study within the 30 days preceding the SV (or prescreening visit, as applicable) or plans to participate in another investigational drug study at any time during this study.
4. The patient has previously participated in an Fp MDPI or FS MDPI study.
5. The patient has a known hypersensitivity to any corticosteroid, salmeterol, or any of the excipients in the study drug or rescue medication formulation (ie, lactose).
6. The patient has been treated with any known strong cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4 inhibitors (eg, azole antifungals, ritonavir, or clarithromycin) within 30 days before the SV or plans to be treated with any strong CYP3A4 inhibitor during the study.
7. The patient has been treated with any of the prohibited medications during the prescribed (per protocol) washout periods before the SV.
8. The patient currently smokes or has a smoking history of 10 pack-years or more (a pack-year is defined as smoking 1 pack of cigarettes/day for 1 year). The patient may not have used tobacco products within the past year (eg, cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, or pipe tobacco).
9. The patient has a culture-documented or suspected bacterial or viral infection of the upper or lower respiratory tract, sinus, or middle ear that has not resolved at least 2 weeks before the SV.
10. The patient has a history of alcohol or drug abuse within 2 years preceding the SV.
11. The patient has had an asthma exacerbation requiring systemic corticosteroids within 30 days before the SV, or has had any hospitalization for asthma within 2 months before the SV.
12. Initiation or dose escalation of immunotherapy (administered by any route) is planned during the study period. However, patients who initiated immunotherapy 90 days or more before the SV and have been on a stable (maintenance) dose for 30 days or more before the SV may be considered for inclusion.
13. The patient has used immunosuppressive medications within 4 weeks before the SV.
14. The patient is unable to tolerate or unwilling to comply with the appropriate washout periods and withholding of all applicable medications. (Patients that require continuous treatment with β-blockers, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, tricyclic antidepressants, anticholinergics, and/or systemic corticosteroids are excluded).
15. The patient has untreated oral candidiasis at the SV. Patients with clinical visual evidence of oral candidiasis who agree to receive treatment and comply with appropriate medical monitoring may enter the study.
16. The patient has a history of a positive test for human immunodeficiency virus, active hepatitis B virus, or hepatitis C infection.
17. The patient is either an employee or an immediate relative of an employee of the clinical investigational center.
18. A member of the patient's household is participating in the study at the same time. However, after the enrolled patient completes or discontinues participation in the study, another patient from the same household may be screened.
19. The patient has a disease/condition that in the medical judgment of the investigator would put the safety of the patient at risk through participation or that could affect the efficacy or safety analysis if the disease/condition worsened during the study.

    * Other criteria may apply, please contact the investigator for more information

Criteria for Randomization:

Patients were randomized into the study if they met all of the following criteria:

1. The patient continued to be in general good health, meeting the entry criteria.
2. The patient continued to have a predose/pre-albuterol FEV1 at the randomization visit (RV) that was ≥40% of predicted normal.
3. The patient had no clinically significant abnormal laboratory test results or ECG findings at the screening visit.
4. The patient had no significant changes in asthma medications during run-in, excluding the albuterol/salbutamol HFA (90 mcg ex actuator) or equivalent used as rescue medication as supplied per protocol.
5. The patient did not have a upper respiratory tract infection (URI) or lower respiratory tract infection (LRI) during the run in period. Patients who developed a URI or LRI during the run in period could be discontinued from the study and allowed to re-screen 2 weeks after resolution of symptoms.
6. The patient had no asthma exacerbation during the run in period, defined as any worsening of asthma requiring any significant treatment other than rescue albuterol/salbutamol HFA (90 mcg ex actuator) or equivalent or the patient's run-in MDPI. This included requiring the use of systemic corticosteroids and/or emergency department (ED) visit or hospitalization or an increase in the patient's regularly prescribed nonsteroidal maintenance treatment. Urgent care/ED visits where the treatment was limited to a single dose of nebulized albuterol/salbutamol did not meet the criteria of an asthma exacerbation.
7. The patient had no clinical visual evidence (on oropharyngeal examination) of oropharyngeal candidiasis.
8. The patient did not experience an adverse event that would result in failure to continue to meet selection criteria.
9. The patient did not use any of the prohibited concomitant medications during the run in period.
10. The patient complied with completion of the daily diary, defined as follows:

    * completion of AM and PM asthma symptom scores on 4 or more of the 7 days immediately preceding the RV.
    * completion of rescue medication use (whether used or not) on 4 or more of the 7 days immediately preceding the RV.
    * completion of AM peak expiratory flow (PEF) measurements on 4 or more of the 7 days immediately preceding the RV.
    * recording of AM and PM asthma inhalation therapy use on 4 or more of the 7 days immediately preceding the RV.
B: Inclusion Criteria:

* Persistent asthma for at least 1-year
* Must use a daily asthma controller medication for at least 4 weeks prior to randomization, including an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) with or without a long-acting beta agonist (LABA) or other adjunctive asthma therapy OR be using a leukotriene receptor antagonist (LTRA), xanthine or short acting beta agonist (SABA) as a monotherapy.
* Must be able to discontinue current asthma medication
* Must have a history of at least one asthma exacerbation in previous 4 to 52 weeks

Exclusion Criteria:

* Unstable asthma
* Taking high dose ICS with or without other adjunctive therapy who have an Asthma Control Questionnaire 6 (ACQ6) total score ≥ 1.5
* Taking LTRA, xanthine or SABA monotherapy with an ACQ-6 total score \< 1.5 (controlled)
* Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis (CF), or other significant, non-asthmatic, lung disease
* Clinically significant abnormality, illness or disorder of any body or organ system
* Significant underlying cardiovascular condition which may contraindicate use of a beta-agonist.
* History of smoking greater than 10-pack years
* Had an asthma exacerbation within 4 weeks of the Baseline Visit
* Had more than 4 asthma exacerbations or 2 hospitalizations within 52 weeks of the randomization visit
* Known or suspected hypersensitivity or intolerance to corticosteroids, beta-2 agonists, or any of the (inactive ingredients) excipients present in the medications used in this study
* Require the use of chronic systemic steroids, omalizumab, or other monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies
* Requires the use of beta-blockers
* History of life-threatening asthma, including an asthma episode that required intubation and/or was associated with hypercapnia requiring noninvasive ventilatory support
* Lactating, pregnant, or plans to become pregnant during the course of the trial
C: Inclusion criteria:

1. All patients must sign and date an Informed Consent Form consistent with International Conference on Harmonisation - Good Clinical Practice (ICH-GCP) guidelines and local legislation prior to participation in the trial (i.e. prior to any trial procedures, including any pre-trial washout of medications and medication restrictions for pulmonary function test at Visit 1).
2. Male or female patients aged at least 18 years but not more than 75 years.
3. All patients must have at least a 3 month history of asthma at the time of enrolment into the trial. The diagnosis should be confirmed at Visit 1 by fulfilling inclusion criterion 5.
4. The initial diagnosis of asthma must have been made before the patient's age of 40.
5. The diagnosis of asthma has to be confirmed at Visit 1 with a bronchodilator reversibility (15 minutes after 400 mcg salbutamol (albuterol)) resulting in a Forced Expiratory Volume in one second (FEV1) increase of at least 12% and at least 200mL.
6. All patients must have been on maintenance treatment with a medium, stable dose of inhaled corticosteroids for at least for 4 weeks prior to Visit 1.
7. All patients must be symptomatic at Visit 1 (screening) and prior to randomisation at Visit 2 as defined by an Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) mean score of at least 1.5.
8. All patients must have a pre-bronchodilator FEV1 at least 60% and less than or equal to 90% of predicted normal at Visit 1.
9. Variation of absolute FEV1 values of Visit 1 (pre-bronchodilator) as compared to Visit 2 (pre-dose) must be within ± 30%.
10. Patients must be never-smokers or ex-smokers who stopped smoking at least one year prior to enrolment (Visit 0) and who have a smoking history of less than 10 pack years.
11. Patients must be able to use the Respimat® inhaler and metered dose inhaler correctly.
12. Patients must be able to perform all trial related procedures including technically acceptable pulmonary function tests and use of electronic diary/peak flow meter.

Exclusion criteria:

1. Patients with a significant disease other than asthma. A significant disease is defined as a disease which, in the opinion of the investigator, may (i) put the patient at risk because of participation in the trial, or (ii) influence the results of the trial, or (iii) cause concern regarding the patient's ability to participate in the trial.
2. Patients with a clinically relevant abnormal screening (Visit 1) haematology or blood chemistry if the abnormality defines a significant disease as defined in exclusion criterion 1.
3. Patients with a recent history (i.e. six months or less) of myocardial infarction.
4. Patients who have been hospitalised for cardiac failure during the past year.
5. Patients with any unstable or life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia or cardiac arrhythmia requiring intervention or a change in drug therapy within the past year.
6. Patients with lung diseases other than asthma (e.g. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)).
7. Patients with known active tuberculosis.
8. Patients with malignancy for which the patient has undergone resection, radiation therapy or chemotherapy within the last five years. Patients with treated basal cell carcinoma are allowed.
9. Patients who have undergone thoracotomy with pulmonary resection. Patients with a history of thoracotomy for other reasons should be evaluated as per exclusion criterion no. 1.
10. Patients with significant alcohol or drug abuse within the past two years.
11. Patients who are currently in a pulmonary rehabilitation program or have completed a pulmonary rehabilitation program in the 6 weeks prior to Visit 1 (screening).
12. Patients with known hypersensitivity to anticholinergic drugs, benzalkonium chloride (BAC), ethylenediamineteraacetic acid (EDTA), salmeterol xinafoate or any other components of the study medication delivery systems.
13. Pregnant or nursing woman.
14. Women of childbearing potential not using a highly effective method of birth control.
15. Patients who have taken an investigational drug within four weeks prior to Visit 1.
16. Patients who have been treated with beta-blocker medication within four weeks prior to Visit 1 and/or during the screening period. Topical cardio-selective beta-blocker eye medications for non-narrow angle glaucoma are allowed.
17. Patients who have been treated with the long-acting anticholinergic tiotropium (Spiriva®) within four weeks prior to Visit 1 and/or during the screening period.
18. Patients who have been treated with oral or patch beta-adrenergics within four weeks prior to Visit 1 and/or during the Screening period.
19. Patients who have been treated with oral corticosteroids within four weeks prior to Visit 1 and/or during the screening period.
20. Patients who have been treated with anti-IgE antibodies, e.g. omalizumab (Xolair®), within 6 months prior to Visit 1 and/or during the screening period.
21. Patients who have been treated with cromone within two weeks prior to Visit 1 and/or during the screening period.
22. Patients who have been treated with methylxanthines or phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitors within two weeks prior to Visit 1 and/or during the screening period.
23. Patients who have been treated with other non-approved and according to international guidelines not recommended "experimental" drugs for routine asthma therapy within four weeks prior to Visit 1 and/or during the screening period.
24. Patients with any asthma exacerbation or any respiratory tract infection iin the four weeks prior to Visit 1 and/or during the screening period.
25. Patients who have previously been randomised in this trial or in the respective twin trial (205.419) or are currently participating in another trial.
D: Inclusion Criteria for TALC and BASALT Studies:

* Clinical history consistent with asthma
* Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) greater than 40% of predicted value
* Asthma confirmed by one of the following two criteria:

  1. Beta-agonist reversibility to 4 puffs albuterol of at least 12% OR
  2. Methacholine provocative concentration at 20% (PC20) of 8 milligrams per milliliter (mg/mL) or less when not on an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), or 16 mg/mL or less when on an ICS
* Need for daily controller therapy (i.e., ICS, leukotriene modifiers, and/or long-acting beta-agonists) based on one or more of the following criteria:

  1. Received prescription for or used asthma controller within the 12 months prior to study entry OR
  2. Experienced symptoms for more than twice a week and not on asthma controller
* If on inhaled steroids (any drug at any dose not exceeding the equivalent of 1000 micrograms (mcg) of fluticasone daily), participant must have been on a stable dose for at least 2 weeks prior to study entry
* Non-smoker (i.e., total lifetime smoking history less than 10 pack-years; no smoking for at least 1 year prior to study entry)
* Willing to use an effective form of birth control throughout the study

Inclusion Criteria for TALC Study:

* Ability to measure morning (AM) peak expiratory flow (PEF) on schedule using electronic peak flow meter (EPFM) and to complete the study diary correctly at least 75% of the time during the interval between Weeks 2 and 4 of the run-in period
* Adherence with study medication dosing at least 75% of the time during the interval between Weeks 2 and 4 of the run-in period
* No asthma exacerbation requiring use of oral corticosteroids or additional asthma medications (including an increased dose of ICS) during the run-in period
* FEV1 greater than 40% of the predicted value

Exclusion Criteria for BASALT and TALC Studies:

* Lung disease other than asthma, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic bronchitis
* Established or suspected diagnosis of vocal cord dysfunction
* Significant medical illness other than asthma
* History of respiratory tract infection within the 4 weeks prior to study entry
* History of a significant asthma exacerbation within the 4 weeks prior to study entry
* History of life-threatening asthma requiring treatment with intubation and mechanical ventilation in the 5 years prior to study entry
* Hyposensitization therapy other than an established maintenance regimen
* Inability to coordinate use of the delivery devices used in the study, based on the opinion of the investigator or clinical coordinator
* Pregnant

Exclusion Criteria for TALC Study:

* Inability to coordinate use of the medication delivery devices used in the study, based on the opinion of the investigator or clinical coordinator
* Presence at Week 4 of the run-in period of any of the exclusion criteria stipulated for Week 0 of the run-in period (Note: Respiratory tract infections that do not cause the participant to meet exacerbation criteria are not considered exclusionary.)

Answer: C