Pharmaxis begins enrollment in Aridol COPD study

Australian drugmaker Pharmaxis says it has enrolled the first patients in a trial designed to evaluate the ability of its diagnostics and management tool Aridol to predict treatment response in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The assessment, which is taking place in Switzerland, is being conducted to test the hypothesis that COPD sufferers are more likely to react well to a course of inhaled steroids if they have had a positive Aridol challenge test.

The program, which will seek to enroll 100 participants, will provide patients with a month's treatment with Boehringer Ingelhem's brochodilator Spiriva (tiotropium bromide), prior to Aridol assessment, followed by therapy with inhaled steroids or placebo for the remainder of the study. The trial is scheduled to complete in the first half of 2008.