Major COPD study terminated early
The effects of a beta blocker were not what the researchers expected
24th October 2019
By Clare Pain
A major trial testing whether a beta blocker could be helpful in COPD was terminated early because of lack of benefit and more severe exacerbations in people taking the drug, the US authors say.
The findings bring into question suggestions from earlier observational studies that beta blockers could be beneficial for patients with COPD in whom cardiovascular disease had not been diagnosed, they say.
In the double-blind trial, known as BLOCK COPD, 532 people with moderate to severe COPD were randomised either to receive