Explore expert perspectives from ATS 2025 with our exclusive interview series. Discover key advances in respiratory care, including updates on COPD, ILD, ventilation strategies, and emerging therapies. Stay informed with concise, clinically relevant insights tailored for healthcare professionals on touchRESPIRATORY.

In this Q&A, Professors David Price and David Halpin discuss their ATS 2025 abstract on improving COPD outcomes through a digital adherence support package. They explore the MAGNIFY trial's design, including how an EMR-driven algorithm identified high-risk patients and how a pharmacist-led intervention combined with a digital inhaler device significantly reduced treatment failure in a real-world primary care setting.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) poses a serious threat in ICUs, often driven by biofilms on endotracheal tubes that resist antibiotics. In this Q&A, Professor Frank MP van Haren discusses a study showing that nebulized BromAc® effectively disrupts these biofilms and enhances antibiotic action, offering a promising strategy against persistent infections like Pseudomonas aeruginosa-related VAP.

Asthma affects nearly 300 million people worldwide.1 Despite a notable decline in age-standardized prevalence, mortality and disability-adjusted life years over the past three decades, the burden of asthma remains high in many countries including low-middle-income countries.2 Climate change is also predicted ...

For patients living with chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) such as chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), access to reliable and comprehensive health information is often limited and unreliable.

As we observe World Lung Day, it is crucial to reflect on the escalating impact of respiratory diseases across the globe. Chronic respiratory diseases — including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, lung cancer, pulmonary hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, and others — continue to rank among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The World Health Organization’s latest data underscores the persistence of the global respiratory crisis:

The BETTER-B study, recently presented at ERS and published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, provided new insights into the management of severe breathlessness in patients with chronic respiratory diseases such as COPD and Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD).  Severe breathlessness is a debilitating symptom that significantly impacts the quality of life for millions of people worldwide, yet there are currently no licensed medications to effectively address it outside of Australia. Given the clinical challenges and limited treatment options, clinicians often resort to off-label use of medications like mirtazapine, a widely prescribed antidepressant that appeared promising. Despite its initial promise, the study found that doses ranging from 15 to 45 mg of mirtazapine failed to provide significant relief compared to a placebo. Additionally, the findings highlighted potential adverse effects and increased healthcare costs associated with its use. 

The European Commission has approved dupilumab (Regeneron and Sanofi)) as an add-on maintenance treatment for adults with uncontrolled chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) characterized by raised blood eosinophils.

Welcome to the latest edition of touchREVIEWS in Respiratory & Pulmonary Diseases. As we continually strive to deliver cutting-edge research and insightful commentary, this issue is no exception, featuring a diverse array of articles that illuminate both emerging treatments and ...