Making a Real Difference to the Lives of Asthma Patients

Southampton, England (ots/PRNewswire) -

- Leading Asthma Expert Calls for Action

On the occasion of World Asthma Day on 6 May, leading asthma
expert Professor Stephen Holgate from the University of Southampton
(UK) says: "I am delighted that the theme of this year's World Asthma
Day 'You Can Control Your Asthma' sends out such a positive message.
Indeed, with personalised disease management asthma can be controlled
in the great majority of asthma patients."

Professor Holgate explains: "Asthma is a complex multi-factorial
condition and as such specific patient profiles need to be taken into
account to determine the optimal treatment. This is most clearly seen
in children with asthma. Asthma is a different disease in children
than in adults, and the ongoing growth and maturation of organs
affects both the disease course of asthma and the efficacy of
medications. Consequently, treatment suitable for adults may not be
successful in children."

The need for better asthma management lies at the heart of the
Brussels Declaration, a ten-point action plan to make asthma a
political and medical priority. The Brussels Declaration was
developed by leading asthma experts, together with EU policymakers,
regulators and patient groups attending the 'Summit for Change in
Asthma Management',(1) which took place in the European Parliament on
18-19 October 2006. The Summit highlighted the new understanding of
asthma as a systemic inflammatory disease which affects more than
just the lungs, and the vital need to control inflammation.

Professor Stephen Holgate says: "It is regrettable that the
latest scientific understanding of asthma as a systemic disease is
not reflected in regulatory and clinical guidance. This is for
example true for the EMEA (European Medicines Agency) Regulatory
Guidance Note on Asthma, which needs to better reflect the real-world
patients that we all see as clinicians. As it stands, the current
Note is markedly out of date, holding back research and thus
preventing advancements that would guide treatment decisions for many
important groups of patients. An update of the Guidance Note was
called for in the Brussels Declaration. We must act on this and the
other points of the Declaration if we are to make a real difference
to the lives of asthma patients."

Asthma is a respiratory manifestation of systemic inflammatory
processes, which is increasing throughout the world in all age
groups, particularly children. Approximately 300 million people
around the world have asthma and around 30 million people in Europe
have asthma.(2) The disease exerts a significant health economic
burden on society, with an annual cost of 17.7 billion Euros across
Europe alone.(3) 95% of asthma is controllable given access to
appropriate medical care.(4)

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(1) Further information about the Summit for Change in Asthma
Management and the Brussels Declaration can be found at:
http://www.summitforchange.eu/

(2) European Federation of the Allergy and Airway Diseases
Patients Association (EFA). Available at http://www.efanet.org

(3) http://www.efanet.org

(4) World Health Organization. Let Everybody Breathe: World
Asthma Day. Available at:
http://www.who.int/inf-pr-2000/en/pr2000-29.html

ots Originaltext: AAIR (Asthma, Allergy & Inflammation Research)
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
For further information please contact: Sarah Watts, Media Relations
Manager, University of Southampton, +44(0)23-8059-3807,
S.A.Watts@soton.ac.uk; Professor Stephan Holgate, Faculty of
Medicine, Health and Life sciences, University of Southampton,
+44(0)23-8079-6960, s.holgate@soton.ac.uk