Ridgefield-based Boehringer Ingelheim has gained FDA approval or a new drug to treat chronic COPD.  Stiolto Respimat is an inhalation spray that's meant as a long-term, once daily maintenance treatment.  Respiratory Marketing Vice President Clare Burrows says COPD also includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

Burrows notes this new drug is not meant to treat asthma or acute deterioration of COPD.

Patients are typically diagnosed when lung function is already significantly impaired. COPD symptoms can negatively impact a patient’s ability to breathe especially when performing daily activities. More than 15 million Americans have been told that they have COPD according to Burrows, but as many as 45 percent of the total estimated COPD cases remain undiagnosed. 

Burrows says this new drug builds on Boehringer Ingelheim's committment to the company's 40 year history of working in lung health.

Burrows says patients may appreciate the benefits of a maintenance medication that improves lung function within five minutes and lasts the entire day.  She says it also reduces the use of rescue inhailers, but is not meant as a replacement for a rescue inhaler.