You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Pleural disease
Fixing lung health in the UK: accelerating respiratory research and innovation
  1. Cheryl Routley1,
  2. Samantha Walker1,
  3. Eric WFW Alton2,
  4. Ian P Hall3
  1. 1 Research and Innovation, Asthma + Lung UK, London, UK
  2. 2 National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK
  3. 3 Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Samantha Walker, Research and Innovation, Asthma + Lung UK, London, UK; swalker{at}asthmaandlung.org.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/thorax-2024-221939

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    Introduction

    Lung conditions are the third biggest killer in the UK1 and poor lung health costs the UK £188 billion every year.2 Involvement in clinical translational research improves clinical outcomes.3 4 However, while respiratory health was identified as a government priority in the Life Science Vision missions in 2021,5 it has not yet received any additional funding. Given the acknowledged respiratory research strength of the UK, it’s therefore surprising that only 2.5%6 of public investment is spent on researching lung conditions that would help diagnose, treat and manage them much more effectively.

    In 2022, we identified the need for a cross-sector group to oversee and drive forward respiratory research in the UK.7 Since then, Asthma + Lung UK has convened a group of experts from patient advocacy groups, charities, specialist organisations and academia (the Lung Research and Innovation Group (LRIG)), to catalyse a more collaborative approach. LRIG’s new report, ‘Fixing Lung Health: 10 priorities to accelerate respiratory research and innovation’,8 highlights key areas in which progress could both transform clinical care and help return people with these conditions to school, work or a better quality of retirement (figure 1). Here we highlight some of these recommendations as exemplars of the change that could potentially happen with greater coordination of, and investment in, lung health research.

    Figure 1

    Lung Research and Innovation Group’s 10 priorities for respiratory research …

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • X @samtwick

    • Contributors Contributors IH, EA, CR and SW all contributed to writing the article. SW is the guarantor.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests Eric Alton Royalties or licenses: Royalties from Boehringer Ingelheim related to cystic fibrosis gene therapy programme. Consulting fees: Boehringer Ingelheim - payments made to EA and institution; AlveoGene - payments made to EA. Patents planned, issued or pending: multiple patents filed by Imperial College. Participation on a Data Safety Monitoring Board or Advisory Board: Boehringer Ingelheim Advisory Board - payments made to EA Leadership or fiduciary role in other board, society, committee or advocacy group, paid or unpaid. Founder Director, AlveoGeneStock or stock options AlveoGene shares - payments to EA. Sam Walker Leadership or fiduciary role in other board, society, committee or advocacy group, paid or unpaid co-Chair of Lung Research and Innovation Group (LRIG). Ian Hall: Grants or contracts from any entity. NIHR Senior Investigator Award - research grant to institution. Support for attending meetings and/or travel. Travel to AUKCAR meeting in Reading, 2024 - Expenses covered by Asthma+Lung UK Leadership or fiduciary role in other board, society, committee or advocacy group, paid or unpaid co-Chair of Lung Research and Innovation Group (LRIG).

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.