About the Authors

Denis E. O’Donnell

odonnell@queensu.ca

Affiliation Queen’s University & Kingston General Hospital, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

François Maltais

Affiliation Centre de Recherche, Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec, Université Laval, Québec, Canada

Janos Porszasz

Affiliation Rehabilitation Clinical Trials Center, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California, United States of America

Katherine A. Webb

Affiliation Queen’s University & Kingston General Hospital, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Frank C. Albers

‡ Formerly.

Affiliation Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ridgefield, Connecticut, United States of America

Qiqi Deng

Affiliation Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ridgefield, Connecticut, United States of America

Ahmar Iqbal

‡ Formerly.

Affiliation Pfizer Inc, New York, New York, United States of America

Heather A. Paden

Affiliation Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ridgefield, Connecticut, United States of America

Richard Casaburi

Affiliation Rehabilitation Clinical Trials Center, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California, United States of America

on behalf of the 205.440 investigators

Membership of the 205.440 investigators is provided in the Acknowledgments.

Competing Interests

This work was supported by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BIPI) and Pfizer Inc. Writing, editorial support, and formatting assistance was provided by Jane M. Gilbert, BSc CMPP, of Envision Scientific Solutions, which was contracted, and compensated by BIPI and Pfizer Inc for these services. DEO has served on advisory boards for Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, and Roche. He has received payment for lectures including service on speakers’ bureaus from Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, and Pfizer. His institution has received grants from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Nycomed, and Pfizer. FM is a consultant for Boehringer Ingelheim. He has served on advisory boards for Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, and Pfizer and has received payment for lectures including service on speakers’ bureaus from Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Nycomed, and Pfizer. His institution has received grants from Boehringer Ingelheim and GlaxoSmithKline. JP is a consultant for Boehringer Ingelheim. KAW has no conflicts of interest to declare. FCA was an employee of Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc, at the time of the study. QD is an employee of Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. HAP is an employee of Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. AI was an employee of Pfizer Inc at the time of the study. RC is a consultant for Boehringer Ingelheim, Forest, and Novartis. He has served on advisory boards for Boehringer Ingelheim and Forest. He has received payment for lectures including service on speakers’ bureaus from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Forest, Novartis, and Pfizer. He has received payment for development of educational presentations from Boehringer Ingelheim. His institution has received grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Forest, GlaxoSmithKline, and Novartis. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: DEO FCA RC. Performed the experiments: DEO FM JP HAP RC. Analyzed the data: DEO FM KAW QD AI HAP RC. Wrote the paper: DEO FM JP KAW FCA QD AI HAP RC. Trial clinical monitor: HAP. Trial co-ordinating investigator: RC.