Conditions: Asthma
Keywords: Asthma Ciclesonide Exacerbation
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 240
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy of ciclesonide with respect to reduction of the number of asthma exacerbations in children with mild persistent asthma. Treatment medication will be administered as follows: ciclesonide will be inhaled once daily, using one of the two dose levels versus placebo together with other corticosteroids used as intermittent treatment. The study duration consists of a baseline period (3 to 4 weeks) and a treatment period (12 months). The study will provide further data on safety and tolerability of ciclesonide.

Detailed description:
The drug being tested in this study is called ciclesonide. Ciclesonide is being tested to treat children who have mild asthma.

The study enrolled 240 patients. Participants were randomly assigned (by chance, like flipping a coin) to one of the three treatment groups-which remained undisclosed to the patient and study doctor during the study (unless there was an urgent medical need):

* Ciclesonide 100 µg
* Ciclesonide 200 µg
* Placebo (dummy inactive inhalation) - this is a metered-dose inhaler that looks like the study drug but has no active ingredient.

All participants were asked to take two puffs from a metered-dose inhaler once daily, in the evening, for up to 12 months.

This multi-center trial was conducted in Canada, Hungary and South Africa. The overall time to participate in this study was 12 months preceded by a baseline washout period of 3 to 4 weeks. Participants made multiple visits to the clinic including a safety follow-up visit within 30 days of the last treatment.

Arms:
arm 1: None arm 2: Ciclesonide 100 µg, metered-dose inhaler, two puffs once daily, in the evening, for up to 12 months. arm 3: Ciclesonide 200 µg, metered-dose inhaler, two puffs once daily, in the evening, for up to 12 months.

Interventions: intervention 1: Ciclesonide intervention 2: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Ciclesonide metered-dose inhaler intervention 2: Ciclesonide placebo-matching metered-dose inhaler

Protocol document: