Treatment of moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (stable) with doxofylline compared with slow release theophylline--a multicentre trial.

An open, randomised trial was conducted at Burdwan Medical College and Midnapore Medical College in West Bengal to investigate therapeutic efficacy and tolerability of doxofylline compared with slow release theophylline in 75 patients (45 males and 30 females) aged between 40 and 70 years who had been suffering from moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. After one week of washout, the two drugs were administered orally to two groups one of 40 patients on doxofylline (400mg twice daily) and 35 patients on slow released theophylline (400mg once a day at evening); treatment and follow-up lasted 4 weeks on both groups patients. Both drugs significantly increased spirometric parameter (doxofylline p<0.01 and theophylline p<0.04) and significantly reduced salbutamol consumption (p<0.001 for both drugs). Doxofylline was better tolerated than theophylline considering either the number of unwanted side-effects: (Doxofylline 8 and theophylline 25) or number of drop-out side-effects (doxofylline 5 and theophylline 10). From these results, doxofylline seemed to be a good alternative to theophylline in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.