Types of COPD
maintenance therapy

Daily maintenance therapies for COPD are designed to help you breathe better throughout the day. Depending on the severity of your COPD symptoms, your doctor may prescribe daily maintenance therapy. These therapies include:

Oral Medications – Depending on the prescription, oral medications may help dilate the airways and reduce inflammation in the lungs.

Nebulized Solutions – These solutions help to keep your airways open and are delivered through a nebulizer machine which turns the solution into a fine mist to be inhaled.

Maintenance Inhalers – These therapies deliver COPD medicine through a device that helps you inhale the medicine directly into your airways. These therapies can include 1, 2, or 3 types of COPD maintenance medicine.

If you’re prescribed a daily maintenance therapy, be sure to ask your doctor how to take your therapy and your daily treatment schedule.

How do I take my daily maintenance therapy? – If you’re prescribed an inhaler therapy, dual and triple therapies may require the use of 1 or more inhalers.
How often do I take my daily maintenance therapy? – Depending on your prescription, you may take your daily maintenance therapy 1 or more times per day.

Ideally, you’ll want to find a therapy that treats your symptoms and also fits into your daily routine. It’s also important to be aware that COPD treatments carry certain risks and side effects, and you should discuss them with your doctor before beginning treatment.

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Depending on the treatment plan, daily maintenance therapy may include 1, 2 or 3 of the following medicines:

Long-Acting Muscarinic Antagonists (LAMAs) help relax the muscles around your airways, allowing the airways to dilate.
Long-Acting Beta2-Agonists (LABAs) expand the smooth muscles around the airways, allowing the airways to dilate.
Inhaled Corticosteroids (ICSs) reduce the swelling (inflammation) in the walls of your airways.

Daily Maintenance Therapies: How They Differ

Lama

Laba

ICS

Monotherapies

LAMA Only

LABA Only

Dual Therapies

ICS/LABA

LAMA/LABA

Triple Therapy

ICS/LAMA/LABA

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Monotherapy

Monotherapy for the daily maintenance of COPD means that only 1 long-acting COPD medicine is used, either a LAMA or a LABA.

LAMAs and LABAs are both long-acting bronchodilators, meaning that they work to help open or dilate the airways (bronchial tubes) in your lungs.

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Dual Therapy

Dual therapy for COPD means that 2 medicines work together to help open the airways in your lungs. However, there are 2 types of dual therapies, each with a different combination of medicines.

ICS and LABA combination treatments

An ICS is an anti-inflammatory, and a LABA is a long-acting bronchodilator, meaning that they work together to open or dilate the airways (bronchial tubes) and decrease inflammation in your lungs.