Efficacy, Pharmacokinetics (PK), Safety and Tolerability Study of Inhaled AZD8871

This is a proof-of-concept, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 3-way, complete crossover William's design, multiple dose study to investigate the efficacy, PK, safety, and tolerability of 2 dose levels of AZD8871 and placebo, administered using a dry powder inhaler (DPI) device once daily, for 2 weeks, in patients with moderate to severe COPD. AZD8871 is a new chemical entity with the combined properties of a LAMA and a LABA in a single molecule. AZD8871 is being developed as an inhaled long-acting bronchodilator for the maintenance treatment of COPD. The objective of the study is to assess the efficacy, safety and PK of AZD8871 after a 14-day treatment period at 2 different doses in patients with moderate to severe COPD. The target population includes male and female (non-childbearing potential) adult patients with clinical diagnosis of moderate to severe COPD. The crossover design has been chosen to avoid inter-patient variability and optimize sample size. By randomly assigning treatment sequence, differences in baseline characteristics of the treatment groups will be minimised. The inclusion of a placebo arm is considered the most reliable method to minimise patient and Investigator bias. The proposed dose levels of AZD8871 in this study are 100 and 600 µg of AZD8871 given by inhalation once daily for 14 days through a single dose DPI. Doses have been selected based on the safety, tolerability, PK and pharmacodynamics (PD) information generated in previous clinical trials with AZD8871. The wash-out period proposed for this current study is a minimum of 28 days and up to 35 days in order to avoid any carry over effect between periods. The broad dose range selected (6 fold range from 100 to 600 µg) has been chosen to span the likely therapeutic dose and facilitate the dose selection for future studies. Considering the expected efficacy in patients with COPD and the available data to date, it is anticipated the benefits will outweigh the risks and support the continued investigation of AZD8871 in clinical studies.