Find out more about the SHARP Clinical Research Collaboration, its vision and objectives.
SHARP is a clinical research collaboration bringing together four key stakeholders to develop and deliver cutting edge severe asthma research: patients (people affected by severe asthma), clinicians, scientists and pharmaceutical industry.
SHARP aims to affect a step-change in asthma research culture across Europe, placing emphasis on ambitions that serve the collective needs of the asthma research community and bringing people with asthma to the centre of the research environment in a real-world context.
Severe asthma is a debilitating condition associated with frequent severe exacerbations, hospitalisation and reduces quality of life. Patients historically have been dependent on oral corticosteroids (for example prednisolone) to achieve control of their symptoms, but this leads to severe long-term side effects which can be life-threatening. With the development of biological treatments (omalizumab etc) many severe asthmatics have had their asthma control improved and seen a reduction in oral corticosteroid use, but these drugs are not available to all patients. There is a need for observational real-world data to answer questions about the burden and cost of severe asthma, the way in which the disease works, identification of different sub types (phenotypes) of asthma as well as prediction of response to therapy in real-life settings to complement the observations in randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trials.
