Changes and opportunities in asthma research
Dr Samantha Walker, Director of Research and Innovation tells us about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the kind of research that Asthma UK and British Lung Foundation Partnership funds and the changes and opportunities it’s brought.
The pandemic and the clinical research world
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the world of clinical research saw some very rapid changes. On one hand, a lot of projects came to a halt. Some of our researchers who are also doctors and nurses were understandably pulled onto the clinical front line. Whilst clinical trials which involved people coming into a hospital or clinic for tests – which typically involve you blowing into machines – stopped because of the infection transmission risk.
On the other hand, our researchers really demonstrated how responsive they can be. Almost overnight the respiratory research community pivoted from whatever else they were doing into working on new treatments for COVID-19. For instance, some of the researchers that we fund through the Asthma UK Centre for Allergic Mechanisms in Asthma have done a huge amount of work on viruses and how they mutate and behave, and they’ve been involved in advising the government on vaccine development. Some of our researchers are also involved in big national projects to collect data from people who are suffering with Long COVID. They’re really trying to understand the symptoms and how we treat them, and what the impact is if you’ve got a lung disease already. In six months’, time they should have data from 10,000 people giving real insight into what is essentially a brand-new disease. I’m so proud of and impressed by the contribution our researchers have made.
Ensuring existing research doesn’t grind to a halt
They say necessity is the mother of invention, and the fact that people can’t go into hospitals and clinics to do their lung function tests now, has had one interesting result. It’s meant we’ve seen a lot of exciting innovation around how we diagnose and monitor asthma using digital technologies. There’s some amazing work being done which may well change things way beyond the pandemic. For instance, I think we’ll start to see technologies emerge that allow you to measure lung function remotely by listening to breath sounds. This might work not just through apps and smart watches, but through technology-enabled sticking plasters and patches, and things like that. This potentially makes it so much easier, and maybe more accurate, to measure people’s chest symptoms at home. Couple that with the fact that many of us are now more comfortable using remote video apps like Zoom to have consultations, and it could really transform the way we diagnose and monitor asthma for the better.
What the future holds for asthma research
It’s unlikely that we’ll be involved in the type of research that develops new COVID-19 treatments – there’s already a huge amount of effort and money going into that already, with massive success. . But I do think we can add real value to the research being done in Long COVID. After all, one of the most significant aftereffects of COVID-19 is breathlessness, which may need different treatments to those used to treat asthma and which therefore needs more research so we can work out how best to look after people who are struggling.
At the same time, there’s no way we’re going to be diverted from exploring better ways to diagnose, manage and treat the 5.4 million people in the UK who are living with asthma. If anything, COVID-19 has made a lot of people realise that respiratory diseases are incredibly important. So, we’ll be continuing to support world-leading research to help improve and save lives.
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