We're fighting to reduce respiratory morbidity and mortality by 20% over the next 5 years.
Our bold and ambitious new research + innovation strategy calls for complete transformation in respiratory research. Developed alongside people living with lung conditions, academics, pharmaceutical companies and policymakers our strategy focuses on the four greatest challenges facing lung health - prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and self-management.
Our world leading research and innovation has saved and improved millions of lives. By discovering the first genetic link for asthma, by contributing to the creation of life-saving treatments for severe asthma, delivering better treatments for COPD, and saving the lives of children with pneumonia.
Our four strategic goals:
1. Make the UK the best place to do respiratory research
By leveraging its unique data assets within the NHS and combining datasets across diseases and sectors to understand early disease progression and generate new hypotheses for diagnosis, treatment, management and prevention.
Learn more about how data sharing is key to understanding lung conditions
2. Develop new ways of diagnosing lung conditions
At symptom, mechanistic or phenotypic level, to ensure people access the right treatment as early as possible.
Respiratory diagnosis is slow, complex, and inaccurate. This year we're funding £2 million of exceptional research and innovation into tools, techniques, and basic science that will improve diagnosis for the millions of people left breathless every single year.
3. Accelerate the development of new treatments by making the UK the best place to conduct respiratory clinical trials
The respiratory pipeline has stalled, recruitment to and delivery of clinical trials is inefficient. Neither the clinical research community nor patients can afford for the system to suffer anymore.
Read more about our work to support clinical trials
4. Accelerate the development of high-quality self management products
It's crucial that people with lung conditions have the right tools to manage their condition in the best way for them. The vast majority of digital tools are not fit for purpose and current NHS infrastructure does not support the development of transformative people focused products.
Find out about our Behavioural Insights work and resources for those involved in product innovation
Funding the future
As well as yearly funding rounds, we'll fund two large strategic awards over the lifetime of this strategy from the following proposals:
- A respiratory digital accelerator
- Centre for respiratory diagnostics
- Future respiratory leaders academy
- Centre for research into breathlessness
Achieving our strategy's goals
We'll fund the best science and brightest minds to find new solutions to challenges in respiratory prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management. By 2027, we aim to grow our funding programme to £5 million every year.
Lung conditions are the UK's 3rd biggest killer, yet they receive just 2% of public funding into the research and innovation that will save and improve people's lives.
Read about our influencing work, fighting to increase public investment in respiratory research.
Our consultancy service puts the voices and experiences of people with lung conditions at the centre of respiratory research to ensure that new interventions and new products meet the needs of the people they're intended to help.
We'll continue to play our part in connecting professionals working in respiratory with each other and with people living with lung conditions, so that as a community we can better understand, define and prioritise unmet need to support research and development in the UK and beyond.
By continuing to provide travel awards and tailored funding for people at the start of their career in respiratory research and innovation.
Accelerating respiratory research and innovation will provide a catalyst for progress across many of the Government’s ambitions to improve economic activity and reducing regional inequalities while cementing the UK’s position as a science superpower.