As the year draws to a close, we’re reflecting on the scientific and clinical progress that shaped 2025. It has been a truly groundbreaking year, marked by important therapeutic approvals, major guideline updates, and advances in personalized medicine, AI, and diagnostics that continue to refine the way respiratory and pulmonary disease are understood and managed. Across specialties these developments have driven meaningful improvements in patient care and opened the door to new research possibilities.

In this year-end review, we are pleased to share personal highlights from members of the touchRESPIRATORY Editorial Board and this year’s Future Leaders cohort, whose perspectives offer a window into the innovations that have most influenced clinical practice and research over the past 12 months. Their reflections capture not only the momentum of 2025, but also the promise of what lies ahead as the field continues to evolve.

Mr Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, PhD, FICS, FSSO, FACS

Editorial Board member

“Robotic Navigational Bronchoscopy represents one of the most significant advancements in the early diagnosis of lung cancer. By combining robotic precision with 3D navigation technology, this system allows surgeons to reach even the smallest and most challenging lung nodules with exceptional accuracy. Traditional bronchoscopy is often limited by the anatomy of the airways, but robotic platforms provide superior stability, articulation, and control, enabling safe passage deep into the peripheral lung. This level of precision increases the likelihood of obtaining a diagnostic tissue sample on the first attempt, reducing delays and anxiety for patients.

For clinicians, the technology offers unparalleled visibility and manoeuvrability, transforming the assessment of suspicious nodules and improving access to areas that previously required more invasive procedures. In many cases, robotic bronchoscopy can help avoid surgical biopsies altogether. When combined with rapid on-site evaluation and advanced imaging, it supports faster decision-making and earlier treatment planning. As lung cancer outcomes are strongly linked to early detection, robotic navigational bronchoscopy is becoming an essential tool in modern thoracic practice. It represents a new era in precision diagnosis, enhancing patient safety while expanding what is surgically and diagnostically possible.”

Consultant Thoracic and Robotic Surgeon, Cleveland Clinic London, London, UK

Dr Veronique Suttels, MD, PhD

2025 Future Leader

“In August 2025, WHO updated its Target Product Profiles for TB screening. The emphasis shifted from purely diagnostic performance to a broader view that includes accessibility, feasibility, and cost—ultimately aiming to improve diagnostic yield. This reflects a growing recognition that a third of TB patients remain undiagnosed, and in some settings, up to half of culture-positive patients show no symptoms. I believe this shift in perspective is critical to closing the detection gap.”

Clinician-researcher, CHUV Department Of Infectious Diseases, Lausanne, Switzerland

Dr S Shahzad Mustafa, MD

Editorial Board member

“Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis (CRSwNP) is a common comorbidity in patients with asthma, particularly poorly controlled or severe asthma. With the recent FDA-approval of tezepelumab, there are now multiple FDA-approved monoclonal antibodies (biologics) for both the management of CRSwNP and asthma. These advanced therapeutics should meaningfully improve clinical outcomes in patients with asthma and comorbid CRSwNP, including a decreased reliance on systemic corticosteroids.”

Division Head – Allergy, Immunology, & Rheumatology, Rochester Regional Health; Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA

Dr Shelby MacRae, MD

2025 Future Leader

“The establishment of the Bronchiectasis & NTM Association Care Center Network represents a paradigm shift for a historically under-recognized disease. This nationwide network has unified specialized centers to deliver coordinated, high-quality care while standardizing treatment approaches and accelerating research collaboration. By directly connecting patients to expert clinicians, the network is closing critical gaps in access and fundamentally elevating bronchiectasis from a neglected disease to one with dedicated infrastructure and growing visibility within both the medical community and among patients.”

Assistant Professor, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, USA

Prof. Juzar Ali, MD, FRCP(C), FCCP

Editorial Board member

“Advances in better understanding specific and emerging respiratory diseases and improving treatment and outcomes in the field of pulmonary medicine have been impressive in 2025. However, the increasing awareness amongst healthcare professionals at all levels to robustly incorporate a multidisciplinary, multi-faceted approach in long term and systemic management of chronic lung diseases has been an impactful and welcome change in 2025.”

LSU Alumni Klein Professor (Emeritus/Gratis) of Medicine, Section of Pulmonary/Critical Care, LSU Health Sciences Center; Consultant Director, LSU Health Sciences Center TB-NTM – Bronchiectasis ELD Program, New Orleans, LA, USA

Dr Debasree Banerjee, MD

2025 Future Leader

“I think 2025 has been a year where many impactful new drugs for rare pulmonary diseases have come to market or become more widely used, for example, drugs to slow fibrosis in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, extended FDA approvals of sotatercept for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension already on background therapy, as well as the use of trikafta for people with cystic fibrosis with a non del508 mutation.

This is exciting given the limited repertoire of disease modifying medications for some orphan diseases. These drugs have taken years to go through the pipeline from discovery to wider spread use. I think despite these great advancements, I would like to make a less optimistic prediction, which is that with the current agenda of the United State’s federal administration’s agenda the nation’s ability to make pharmacologic advances in the future will be severely impaired, to say the least.”

Associate Professor of Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA