Eighty nine patients with hypoxic chronic obstructive airways disease (
COAD) were enrolled into the 1 year
Vectarion International Multicentre Study-VIMS in 4 centres, Sheffield (UK), and Antwerp, Liege and Namur (Belgium). At the end of the year the remainder were invited to continue taking placebo or
almitrine bismesylate (100-200 mg daily) in the same double blind manner for a further 12 months. In the
almitrine treated patients mean arterial
oxygen tension (Pao2) at the end of the treatment period improved from 7.5 (0.5) kPa to 8.2 (1.3) kPa (p less than 0.01) and arterial
carbon dioxide tension (Paco2) fell from 6.1 (0.8) kPa to 5.8 (0.9) kPa (p less than 0.01). Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and measurements of
breathlessness were unchanged. In the placebo treated group changes in the above variables were not significant. Twenty nine patients withdrew from the
almitrine group with seven deaths and six cases of
peripheral neuropathy, and 22 patients withdrew from the placebo group with six deaths and two cases of
peripheral neuropathy. Death rates between the groups were not significantly different. In conclusion, 2 yrs of
almitrine treatment (100-200 mg daily) leads to a persistent slight improvement in PaO2 and PaCO2 but no benefit in survival was demonstrated. Patients in this study had a high incidence of
drug related side-effects. Lower dose schedules should be investigated.