Sputum NSP data analysis criteria
The baseline sputum NSP values represented the average of the sputum NSP values from the subject’s Screening visit and Day 1 (pre-dose) visit as both visits were prior to the initiation of treatment. If one of the Screening or the Day 1 NSP values was below the quantification limit (BQL), then the non-BQL value was used as the Baseline value. If both values at the Screening visit and Day 1 (pre-dose) visit were BQL, then the baseline value was represented by a value of zero.Every subject with a non-zero baseline sputum NSP value was included for further data analysis where comparison to baseline was performed. For those subjects with a non-zero baseline value, if any post-baseline value was BQL, then for each visit with a BQL value, the value of the BQL character field was converted to zero. Due to the lognormal distribution nature of the sputum NSP data set, a data transformation method using Log transformation replaced each numeric number x with log