This grade answers one narrow question: how strong is the public evidence and safety record behind this drug, and how clean is its money trail and court record? It is not a verdict on whether the drug is right for you.
Listed on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines: a global expert panel judged it among the medicines a health system should always have, on evidence of value, not marketing.
Umeclidinium ELLIPTA is indicated for the maintenance treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Umeclidinium ELLIPTA is an anticholinergic indicated for the maintenance treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). ( 1 )
Umeclidinium ELLIPTA is contraindicated in the following conditions: • Severe hypersensitivity to milk proteins [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.3 )] • Hypersensitivity to umeclidinium or any of the excipients [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.3 ), Description ( 11 )] • Severe hypersensitivity to milk proteins. ( 4 ) • Hypersensitivity to any ingredient. ( 4 )
• Do not initiate in acutely deteriorating COPD. Do not use to treat acute symptoms. ( 5.1 ) • If paradoxical bronchospasm occurs, discontinue Umeclidinium ELLIPTA and institute alternative therapy. ( 5.2 ) • Worsening of narrow-angle glaucoma may occur. Use with caution in patients with narrow-angle glaucoma and instruct patients to contact a healthcare provider immediately if symptoms occur. ( 5.4 ) • Worsening of urinary retention may occur. Use with caution in patients with prostatic hyperplasia or bladder-neck obstruction and instruct patients to contact a healthcare provider immediately if symptoms occur. ( 5.5 ) 5.1 Deterioration of Disease and Acute Episodes Umeclidinium ELLIPTA should not be initiated in patients during rapidly deteriorating or potentially life-threatening episodes of COPD. Umeclidinium ELLIPTA has not been studied in subjects with acutely deteriorating COPD. The initiation of Umeclidinium ELLIPTA in this setting is not appropriate. Umeclidinium ELLIPTA should not be used for the relief of acute symptoms, i.e., as rescue therapy for the treatment of acute episodes of bronchospasm. Umeclidinium ELLIPTA has not been studied in the relief of acute symptoms an...
The following adverse reactions are described in greater detail in other sections: • Paradoxical bronchospasm [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.2 )] • Worsening of narrow-angle glaucoma [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.4 )] • Worsening of urinary retention [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.5 )] Most common adverse reactions (incidence ≥2% and more common than placebo) include nasopharyngitis, upper respiratory tract infection, cough, arthralgia. ( 6.1 ) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Prasco Laboratories at 1-866-525-0688 or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch . 6.1 Clinical Trials Experience Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared with rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice. In the 8 clinical trials conducted to support initial approval of Umeclidinium ELLIPTA, a total of 1,663 subjects with COPD (mean age: 62.7 years; 89% white; 65% male across all treatments, including placebo) received at least 1 inhalation dose of umeclidinium at doses of 62.5 or 125 mcg. In the 4 randomize...
Source: FDA SPL label for Umeclidinium Ellipta (Prasco Laboratories), effective 20251106. Full label on DailyMed.
These are counts of reports people filed, not rates of harm. Anyone can file one, and nobody checks whether the drug was the cause. Millions of doses are taken for every report sent, so the useful part is how this drug compares with the average across all drugs.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,435 | 1,481 | 1,392 | 990 | 865 | 928 | 789 | 430 |
2,505 reports blaming this drug for every million Medicare prescriptions filled, which is 0.9× the typical drug on this site. (2,135 reports in 2024–2026, against 852,329 Medicare fills in one year. This is the one number here that accounts for how many people take the drug.)
Source: the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). Reports are voluntary and unverified. Drugs that are prescribed a lot, in the news, or in lawsuits attract more reports, so the percentages are compared with the whole database to correct for that partly, not fully.
Counts measure how much evidence exists and how transparent it is, not how big the benefit is. For that, ask your prescriber: if 100 people like me took this, how many would get better because of it, and how many would be harmed? (Doctors call these the "number needed to treat" and "number needed to harm.") It differs by condition and is the number drug ads leave out. Sources: PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov.
In 2024, drug companies reported $0 in payments to US physicians and hospitals tied to this drug across 0 transactions.
No pending federal MDL names this drug or its brands.
Not named in any federal pharmaceutical settlement of $100M or more on record.
Sources: CMS Open Payments (Sunshine Act); Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation pending docket list; DOJ settlements as tabulated on Wikipedia with links to the primary record. State-court and individual suits are not included.
No same-class alternatives found in RxClass.