Efficacy, Safety, and Tolerability of Once Daily Indacaterol in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Using Formoterol Twice Daily as Active Control

Inclusion Criteria: * Male and female adults ≥ 40 years, with a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) according to Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines 2005 and: 1. Smoking history of at least 20 pack years 2. Post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) \< 80% and ≥ 30% of the predicted normal value 3. Post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC (forced volume capacity) \< 70% (Post refers to within 30 minutes after inhalation of 400 μg of salbutamol) Exclusion Criteria: * Patients who were hospitalized for a COPD exacerbation in the 6 weeks prior to screening. * Patients who had a respiratory tract infection within 6 weeks prior to screening. * Patients with concomitant pulmonary disease. * Patients with a history of asthma. * Patients with diabetes type I or uncontrolled diabetes type II. * Any patient with lung cancer or a history of lung cancer. * Patients with a history of certain cardiovascular co-morbid conditions. Other protocol-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria applied to the study.