The first publication to come out of our UK Refractory Asthma Stratification Programme (RASP-UK) was published in the journal Thorax today [1].

The article describes how the programme will explore novel biomarker stratification strategies in severe asthma to improve clinical management and accelerate development of new therapies. Prior asthma mechanistic studies have not stratified on inflammatory phenotype and the understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms in asthma without Type 2 cytokine inflammation is limited. RASP-UK will objectively assess adherence to corticosteroids and examine a novel composite biomarker strategy to optimise corticosteroid dose; this will also address what proportion of patients with severe asthma have persistent symptoms without eosinophilic airways inflammation after progressive corticosteroid withdrawal. There will be interactive partnership with the pharmaceutical industry to facilitate access to stratified populations for novel therapeutic studies.

The vision of the RASP-UK Consortium is to create a paradigm shift in asthma care through a logical stratified approach to severe asthma and to establish a long-term collaborative infrastructure for translational research excellence in the UK into 2020 and beyond.

References

1. Heaney LG, et al. Research in progress: Medical Research Council United Kingdom Refractory Asthma Stratification Programme (RASP-UK). Thorax. 2016 Feb;71(2):187-9.