We will shortly be commencing a new study called IMPLEMENT, funded by a grant from Nottingham Hospital Charity with Dr Yik Lam Pang as the Chief Investigator and Professor Dominick Shaw as Co-Investigator.
Improving the treatment experience for Patients receiving biologics in the severe asthma service through the use of patient reported outcomes (IMPLEMENT).
What is the purpose of the study?
Severe asthma affects 1 in 10 people suffering from asthma. These patients have debilitating symptoms and frequent severe asthma attacks. Oral steroids are effective at controlling these symptoms but incur undesirable side effects such as weight gain, thinning of bones, diabetes etc.
We now have new treatments available to help patients with severe asthma. Mepolizumab is one of these new treatments, aimed to reduce oral steroid requirements whilst maintaining good asthma control.
Currently, patients need to have treatment for one year before a response is assessed. Unfortunately, Mepolizumab does not benefit everyone and a 12 month treatment trial is time and cost consuming for the population in which Mepolizumab is not of benefit. Our preliminary work showed that patients who did not improve their severe asthma questionnaire score in the first 3 months of treatment were less likely to respond to treatment at 12 months.
We would like to gain more experience with this questionnaire and explore its potential in predicting response to Mepolizumab. This may eradicate the need for 12-month treatment trials, saving time and preventing delay in seeking alternative treatment options for those to who Mepolizumab does not benefit.
The study will be recruiting for 12 months from date of commencement.
For more information, contact: Dr Yik Lam Pang: y.pang1@nhs.net