Efficacy of Indacaterol 150 µg Versus Formoterol

The study will be a 12 week treatment (84 days), parallel group, randomized, double blind, double dummy, study to assess the superiority of indacaterol (150 μg o.d.) versus formoterol (12 μg b.i.d.) in terms of trough forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1). Patients will be enrolled after giving informed consent and then begin a screening/run-in period for 14 days. Patients will be randomized to one of two treatment groups using an allocation ratio of 1:1 to receive either indacaterol (150 μg o.d.) and placebo to formoterol, or formoterol (12 μg b.i.d.) and placebo to indacaterol for a treatment period of 12 weeks.