In the January 2012 issue of Clinical Therapeutics, we were pleased to see the article on a new treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease, roflumilast, by Pinner et al,
1
titled “Roflumilast: a phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor for the treatment of severe
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.” Since roflumilast was recently approved, the
review is especially timely for educating readers on this drug. In support of this,
we would like the published information to be as accurate as possible. Please consider
the following inaccuracies in the article:
- 1Page 57, column 2, line 40: Based on the cited references,2,3,4,5the t½ for roflumilast N-oxide should be 20 to 23 hours, not 20 to 22 hours as reported in the article.
- 2Page 58, column 1, lines 19 to 22: The sentence “Long-acting bronchodilators, theophylline (2 weeks), and inhaled and/or oral corticosteroids were discontinued before inclusion in the study” should read, “Long-acting bronchodilators, theophylline (2 weeks), and inhaled and/or oral corticosteroids (4 weeks) were discontinued before inclusion in the study,” to accurately report the design of the study6and to be consistent within the sentence, given that weeks of discontinuation necessary in patients taking theophylline (2 weeks) was reported earlier in the sentence.
- 3Page 58, column 2, lines 9 to 13: The sentence “Of note, inflammation worsened during the placebo arm of the study, with increases in sputum neutrophils, eosinophils, neutrophil elastase, and α2-macroglobulin above baseline values” omits eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), interleukin (IL)-8, and lactoferrin, which the cited reference6reported as also increased above baseline values. No explanation is given as to why these measures were omitted.
- 4Page 58, Table I:
- aThe table title claims that the table summarizes ranges of reported pharmacokinetic data for roflumilast and roflumilast N-oxide in healthy adult subjects following a single 500-μg oral dose and cites 4 articles reporting such data. However, no explanation is given as to why 6 articles already cited in the review that also reported similar data7,8,9,10,11,12were omitted from the table. Although the inclusion of these 6 studies would not substantially change the reported pharmacokinetic parameter ranges, the authors provide no explanation as to why these studies were omitted.
- bOne of the data sources for the table reports pharmacokinetic parameters for roflumilast and roflumilast N-oxide in the fed and fasted states,13but the table reports only parameters from the fasted state. Although the additional inclusion of the fed-state parameters would not substantially change the reported pharmacokinetic parameter ranges, the authors provide no explanation as to why these parameters were omitted.
- cThe inclusion of data from the 6 omitted references7,8,9,10,11,12and from the fed state13in Table I results in the following revisions to the summarized parameters: roflumilast Cmax, 3.9–8.3 µg/L; roflumilast N-oxide Cmax, 8.4–13.1 µg/L; roflumilast N-oxide AUC, 305–780 µg · h/L; roflumilast t½, 10.3–33.1 hours; roflumilast N-oxide t½, 19.6–44.0 hours; and roflumilast Tmax, 0.9–2.0 hours.
- a
- 5Page 59, Table II:
- aAlthough each study of each drug measures AUC differently, the authors give no indication as to what kind of AUC parameter is being reported in each case. In Table II, multiple different AUC parameters are reported (AUC0–tlqc [erythromycin14], AUC0-infinity [ketoconazole,8rifampicin,10and montelukast15], AUCinfinity [fluvoxamine12and enoxacin9], AUClast [cimetidine7and magnesium hydroxide/aluminium hydroxide11], and AUCτ [budesonide16]), but no indication is given as to whether these parameters were directly comparable among drugs, as is implied by the table.
- bThe following values are incorrectly reported based on the cited references9,12,14and should be revised: roflumilast + enoxacin AUC, +56%; roflumilast + fluvoxamine t½, 32 hours; roflumilast N-oxide + enoxacin AUC, +23%; roflumilast N-oxide + erythromycin t½, 16 hours; roflumilast N-oxide + fluvoxamine t½, 35 hours.
- cTable II incorrectly states that montelukast was administered as a single dose, whereas the data reported correspond to steady-state montelukast administration.15
- a
- 6Page 60, column 1, line 30: The increase in tPDE4i activity with enoxacin was incorrectly reported as 27% and should be 25%.9
- 7Page 60, column 1, line 43: The decrease in roflumilast N-oxide AUC with rifampicin was incorrectly reported as 68% and should be 56%.10
- 8Page 61, column 2, line 36: The description of the inclusion criteria for the M2-124 and M2-125 studies omits the requirement that patients must have had bronchitic symptoms, an important component of the study design.17
- 9Page 62, Table III:
- aThe population in the study by Rabe et al18is incorrectly described as having had moderate COPD; patients were required to have had moderate to severe COPD.
- bStudy populations of the M2-112, M2-124, and M2-125 studies17,19are incorrectly described as having had severe COPD; patients were required to have had severe to very severe COPD.
- cFor the M2-127 and M2-128 studies,20under “Study Population,” the requirement of sputum production was omitted; the entry should read, “In addition, the tiotropium arm required the presence of chronic cough, sputum production, and frequent use of rescue inhalers.”
- a
- 10Page 63, column 1, lines 29 to 32: The following sentence is incorrect: “Patients in the M2-127 trial must not have had an exacerbation requiring systemic corticosteroids in the previous month, but this was not an exclusion criteria for the M2-128 trial.” Both trials excluded patients who had had an exacerbation in the previous month that required systemic corticosteroids.20
- 11Page 64, column 1, lines 1 to 3: The sentence “In a subset of patients who reported weight loss as an adverse event, mean weight change was −6.26 kg” omits the context that, in this subset of patients, mean weight change with placebo was −4.47 kg, as reported in the cited reference.21
- 12Page 64, column 1, lines 19 to 23: The sentence “In documents submitted to the FDA, the suicide-related adverse events included 2 attempted and 3 completed suicides in roflumilast-treated patients and 1 attempted suicide in placebo-treated patients” omits the context that, of the 3 completed suicides in roflumilast-treated patients, 2 of those patients committed suicide >3 weeks after discontinuation of the study drug, as reported in the cited reference.22
- 13Page 64, column 2, lines 43 to 45: The authors call for studies that more fully assess drug interactions, but they do not cite 4 published drug-interaction studies that should have been found in their systematic review of the literature: roflumilast + warfarin (published June 2011),23roflumilast + theophylline (published July 2011),24roflumilast + formoterol (published June 2011),25and roflumilast + salbutamol (published November 2006).26
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Clinical TherapeuticsAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Roflumilast: a phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor for the treatment of severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.Clin Ther. 2012; 34: 56-66
- Dose-proportional intraindividual single- and repeated-dose pharmacokinetics of roflumilast, an oral, once-daily phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor.J Clin Pharmacol. 2007; 47: 26-36
- High absolute bioavailability of the new oral phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor roflumilast.Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2011; 49: 51-57
- Pharmacokinetics and safety of roflumilast, a once-daily, oral, selective PDE4 inhibitor, and its active metabolite roflumilast N-oxide in healthy subjects.J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2004; 113 (Abstract)
- Pharmacokinetic characteristics of roflumilast administered in gradually increasing doses of 500 μg to 1000 μg are dose-linear in healthy subjects.Eur Respir J. 2002; 20 (Abstract): S108
- Reduction in sputum neutrophil and eosinophil numbers by the PDE4 inhibitor roflumilast in patients with COPD.Thorax. 2007; 62: 1081-1087
- No dose adjustment on coadministration of the PDE4 inhibitor roflumilast with a weak CYP3A, CYP1A2, and CYP2C19 inhibitor: an investigation using cimetidine.J Clin Pharmacol. 2011; 51: 594-602
- Effect of single and repeated doses of ketoconazole on the pharmacokinetics of roflumilast and roflumilast N-oxide.J Clin Pharmacol. 2008; 48: 1339-1349
- Effect of steady-state enoxacin on single-dose pharmacokinetics of roflumilast and roflumilast N-oxide.J Clin Pharmacol. 2011; 51: 586-593
- Effects of rifampicin on the pharmacokinetics of roflumilast and roflumilast N-oxide in healthy subjects.Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2009; 68: 580-587
- Magnesium hydroxide/aluminium hydroxide-containing antacid does not affect the pharmacokinetics of the targeted phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor roflumilast.J Clin Pharmacol. 2007; 47: 660-666
- Effect of fluvoxamine on the pharmacokinetics of roflumilast and roflumilast N-oxide.Clin Pharmacokinet. 2007; 46: 613-622
- Investigation of a potential food effect on the pharmacokinetics of roflumilast, an oral, once-daily phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor, in healthy subjects.J Clin Pharmacol. 2006; 46: 1146-1153
- Effect of repeated dose of erythromycin on the pharmacokinetics of roflumilast and roflumilast N-oxide.Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2009; 47: 236-245
- The targeted oral, once-daily phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor roflumilast and the leukotriene receptor antagonist montelukast do not exhibit significant pharmacokinetic interactions.J Clin Pharmacol. 2009; 49: 389-397
- The oral, once-daily phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor roflumilast lacks relevant pharmacokinetic interactions with inhaled budesonide.J Clin Pharmacol. 2007; 47: 1005-1013
- Roflumilast in symptomatic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: two randomised clinical trials.Lancet. 2009; 374: 685-694
- Roflumilast–an oral anti-inflammatory treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a randomised controlled trial.Lancet. 2005; 366: 563-571
- Effect of 1-year treatment with roflumilast in severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2007; 176: 154-161
- Roflumilast in moderate-to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treated with longacting bronchodilators: two randomised clinical trials.Lancet. 2009; 374: 695-703
- Time course and reversibility of weight decrease with roflumilast, a phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2010; 181 (Abstract): A4441
- Daxas (roflumilast) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.(Accessed February 8, 2012)
- Lack of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions of roflumilast with (R, S)-warfarin in healthy adult subjects.Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2011; 49: 388-396
- Study investigating pharmacokinetic interaction between theophylline and roflumilast in healthy adults.Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2011; 49: 451-460
- No relevant cardiac, pharmacokinetic or safety interactions between roflumilast and inhaled formoterol in healthy subjects: an open-label, randomised, actively controlled study.BMC Clin Pharmacol. 2011; 11: 7
- Roflumilast, a once-daily oral phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor, lacks relevant pharmacokinetic interactions with inhaled salbutamol when co-administered in healthy subjects.Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2006; 44: 572-579
Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 06, 2012
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 Elsevier HS Journals, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ScienceDirect
Access this article on ScienceDirectLinked Article
- Roflumilast: A Phosphodiesterase-4 Inhibitor for the Treatment of Severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary DiseaseClinical TherapeuticsVol. 34Issue 1
- The authors respondClinical TherapeuticsVol. 34Issue 8
- PreviewWe thank Dr. Laurenzi for his thorough review and critique of our recent article “Roflumilast: a phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor for the treatment of severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,” published in the January 2012 issue of Clinical Therapeutics.1 While several of the suggested changes are minor and would not substantially alter the findings, as stated by Dr. Laurenzi, we want to clarify and correct a few of the highlighted items. Items 1 to 7 and 9 are accurate, with the differences likely due to rounding (5b), attempts to provide representative data without being exhaustive (1, 3, 4a–c, 5a, and 9), and errors made while compiling the data (2, 5c, 6, and 7); therefore, we see no need to discuss them further in this response.
- Full-Text
- Preview