Four new inflammatory airway disease trials are underway with the support of CHÉOS — staff will be providing coordinating and site management services. Dr. Del Dorscheid, a critical care and respiratory physician at St. Paul’s Hospital and researcher at the Centre for Heart Lung Innovation, is the principal investigator for all four of the studies.
Three of the studies are examining treatment for asthma while the fourth is testing a novel treatment for chronic bronchitis, a form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Lung disease affects millions of Canadians and significantly impacts the Canadian health care system; more than 3 million people in Canada are diagnosed with asthma and over 10 per cent of Canadians over the age of 40 have COPD. For many of these individuals, treating symptoms and managing disease remains difficult even when following treatment guidelines.