Convening at the headquarters of the European Respiratory Society in Lausanne, 11 talented young researchers – rising stars from SHARP – came together to drive our progress towards better management for people living with severe asthma.
We see challenges – but also possible solutions! With 28 countries coming together in SHARP, sharing data from more than 13,000 patients living with severe asthma across Europe, we can get a clear view of the challenges that need to be overcome.
There are clear signals; mostly, patients are treated too little and too late, and a majority have developed irreversible co-morbidities and chronic loss of lung function before being started on a biological treatment. “Too late” asthma is a situation we do not want anyone to end up in. We clearly need to find patients at-risk of treatment refractory asthma earlier and intervene!
What are the solutions? In a strong pipeline of SHARP projects, the rising stars in SHARP described the factors that contribute to delayed treatment, the proportion of patients in whom damage could have been prevented, how it relates to the local health care systems as well as regulations. But also factors and biomarkers that indicate a risk of development of co-morbidities or loss of lung function. Investigating more in-depth how severe asthma affects those living with it – and how these detrimental impacts may be reduced by timely treatment, will evolve a more holistic understanding of what effective severe asthma management should ideally achieve.
It is an exciting era for SHARP – lots of great new knowledge is about to come out, and great ambitions to change the way we do thing for the better! Growing a strong community of the coming generation of severe asthma specialists, and close collaborations with our patients who will help us ensure that what we do is what matters the most! Ensuring an environment of excellence, but also strong and clear communication – for all, with all. Our patients are the true experts – they know what it is to live with severe asthma. In SHARP we partner up – patients and clinicians – to get to where we need to be, together.
Thanks for great inspirational talks by Professor James Chalmers, chief editor of the European Respiratory Journal, and chair of ERS CRC EMBARC, on how to develop strong research questions, that have a high impact. But also, for reminding us of the importance on focusing our energy on solving the really important issues: What we do needs to be Relevant – Important – and True.
Watch this space for news on SHARP research – more to come!
Participants:
Celeste Porsbjerg, Florence Schleich, Hilary Hodge, James Chalmers, Apostolos Bossios, Sabian Skrgat, Jacob Sont, Aruna Bansal, Saša Rink, Joseph Lanario, Evangelia Fouka, Fabienne Jaun, Kjell Håkansson, Gilles Louis, Stephania Principe, Ana Zaze-Bertoncel, Henrique Cabrita-Rodrigues, Marianne Baastrup-Søndergaard, Nicolas Bougard.
