She’s been smoking for more than 50 years, but even at 68 years old, Pam Reed, of Beatrice, wants to quit. She quit once for about two years, but then she said she made a big mistake and picked up a cigarette thinking she could smoke just one.
She was hooked again.
Like many other smokers, she has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which makes it hard to breathe during activities that require exertion, even going up steps. Some like Reed have mild symptoms, which include shortness of breath with exertion and a cough. But others have more severe shortness of breath, cough up mucus, have a chronic cough, and are more susceptible to chronic bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia and sometimes death.
Half of those who smoke are likely to get COPD. Cigarette smoking is the most common cause of COPD. Breathing in other kinds of irritants, like pollution, dust or chemicals, may also cause or contribute to the disease.
The clinical and research team at the University of Nebraska Medical Center provides relief for COPD and also helps people quit smoking. Though there is no cure for COPD, treatment can help relieve some of the symptoms. UNMC is currently conducting two COPD research studies.
One study will test Tiotropium, also known under the brand name, Spiriva, in smokers and non-smokers, age 40 to 80, with mild or moderate COPD, who experience shortness of breath or have been diagnosed with COPD. The drug, which is co-marketed by Boehringer-Ingelheimworks by opening up the bronchial tubes in the lung, making it easier to breath. and Pfizer,
The purpose of the national study is to explore the effectiveness and safety and breathing capacity in 18 study participants at UNMC over 28 weeks. The study, which also will assess an effect on physical activity, symptoms and productivity, will monitor activity levels and breathing. The study consists of nine office visits. Study participants will be given a once-a-day inhaler treatment or placebo.
“People with COPD and those who don’t know they have COPD sometimes stop exerting themselves – they stop exercising, climbing steps, bowling, and other simple tasks like shopping, which is unhealthy both physically and mentally,” said Stephen Rennard, M.D., Larson Professor of Medicine in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Section at UNMC and principal investigator of the UNMC study. “There’s a large population of people who are suffering needlessly. It’s an important study that may give us another tool to treat shortness of breath.”
In healthy people, both the lung airways and air sacs are springy and elastic. When inhaling, each air sac fills with air like a small balloon. The balloon deflates during exhalation. In COPD, airways and air sacs lose their shape and become floppy, like a stretched-out rubber band.
A second study begins this month to determine the safety and effectiveness of an investigational drug, MP-376, for prevention of acute exacerbations of COPD. MP-376 is an inhaled formulation of Levofloxacin, an antibiotic currently used to treat serious infections. It is marketed by Ortho-McNeil in the U.S. and Sanofi-Aventis. in Europe
In this study, MP-376 will be delivered through a device called the PARI eFlow® nebulizer, which converts liquid into a mist that can be inhaled. Study participants will receive the drug or placebo, twice daily for five days, every 28 days for six to 12 months.
Nationally, more 200 study participants will be enrolled at more than 30 study centers in the United States, with seven taking part at UNMC. To be eligible to participate
in the study, patients must meet criteria, including the following: be older than 40 years of age; have smoked a pack a day for at least 10 years; have a history of moderate to severe COPD with sputum production, and have had two episodes of acute exacerbations of COPD in the past year, but none within the past 30 days.
For more information about the Tiotropium study, contact Molly Deacon at (402) 559-8292 or mdeacon@unmc.edu. For more information about the MP-376 study, contact Lisa Graff, (402) 559-8915 or lgraff@unmc.edu.
Dr. Rennard receives payment as a consultant for Pfizer, sponsor of the Tiotropium study.
UNMC is the only public health science center in the state. Its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through their commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading centers in cancer, transplantation biology, bioterrorism preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, genetics, biomedical technology and ophthalmology. UNMC’s research funding from external sources now exceeds $82 million annually and has resulted in the creation of more than 2,400 highly skilled jobs in the state. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 513 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.
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