26 Week Efficacy, Safety and Tolerability Study of Indacaterol in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Inclusion Criteria: * Male and female adults aged ≥ 40 years, who have signed an Informed Consent Form prior to initiation of any study-related procedure * Co-operative outpatients with a diagnosis of COPD (moderate to severe as classified by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (GOLD) Guidelines, 2005) and: * Smoking history of at least 20 pack years * Post-bronchodilator FEV1 \< 80% and ≥ 30% of the predicted normal value. * Post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC \< 70% (Post refers to within 30 min of inhalation of 400 µg of salbutamol) Exclusion Criteria: * Pregnant or lactating females * Patients who have been hospitalized for a COPD exacerbation in the 6 weeks prior to Visit 1 or during the run-in period * Patients requiring long term oxygen therapy (\> 15 h a day) * Patients who have had a respiratory tract infection 6 weeks prior to V1 (with further criteria) * Patients with concomitant pulmonary disease, pulmonary tuberculosis, or clinically significant bronchiectasis * Patients with a history of asthma (with further criteria) * Patients with Type I or uncontrolled Type II diabetes * Patients with contraindications for tiotropium * Patients who have clinically relevant laboratory abnormalities or a clinically significant abnormality * Any patient with active cancer or a history of cancer with less than 5 years disease free survival time * Patients with a history of long QT syndrome or whose QTc interval is prolonged * Patients with a hypersensitivity to any of the study drugs or drugs with similar chemical structures * Patients who have had treatment with the investigational drug (with further criteria) * Patients who have had live attenuated vaccinations within 30 days prior to visit 1, or during run-in period * Patients with known history of non compliance to medication * Patients unable to satisfactorily use a dry powder inhaler device or perform spirometry measurements Other protocol-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria may apply