Everyone deserves the right to breathe freely and live fully, no matter where they live. That’s why we are aiming to transform the landscape of asthma care – today and for years to come – by forging powerful partnerships with those who understand the needs of people living with asthma and advancing cutting-edge technologies to push the boundaries of scientific innovation.
While asthma is a global challenge, solutions to rethink access to optimal care must take a local approach. Along with partners worldwide, AstraZeneca is working to ensure earlier diagnosis and drive innovation in inhaled and targeted treatments for better long-term outcomes for every patient, everywhere.
Here are five ways we’re transforming access to asthma care:
1. Addressing Unmet Asthma Needs at the Point of Care: Italy’s AsmaZeroWeek
Ongoing challenges at the point of care – like underdiagnoses and limited access to specialists – can be a barrier to having healthy lungs, so we’ve collaborated with patient advocacy groups and scientific societies in Italy for an ongoing initiative called AsmaZeroWeek. The program is promoted by FederAsma e Allergie and in partnership with Respiriamo Insieme, the Italian Society of Allergology, Asthma, and Clinical Immunology (SIAAIC) and the Italian Society of Pulmonology (SIP). AsmaZeroWeek provides more than 1,000 patients each May with free asthma specialist consultations across 35 centres, located in urban and rural communities, to help deliver patients the care they deserve.
2. Prompting Early Asthma Intervention: Applying the Latest Diagnostic Innovation in China
While asthma is prevalent in China, it is largely undiagnosed and undertreated.1 Our aim is to introduce alternative diagnostic solutions, allowing more patients to be diagnosed and treated. We are currently evaluating a portable diagnostic technology with the aim of diagnosing 14 million more asthma and COPD patients by 2030. Earlier diagnosis and treatment have the potential to improve outcomes, including a potential reduction in mortality.
It’s great to see the progress we are making in piloting a next generation portable diagnostic technology, which simplifies diagnostic testing and has the potential to substantially increase diagnoses of asthma and COPD.
3. Promoting Asthma Care for All: Overcoming Barriers to Access in the UK
Access to asthma care doesn’t solely depend on the ability to see a healthcare professional — it’s also about ensuring that these healthcare professionals are empowered to prescribe the right treatment for the right patient.
- In the UK, AstraZeneca is working closely with the severe asthma expert community to improve patient outcomes while reducing inequities and barriers to care. Through supporting healthcare professionals with identification tools that proactively find uncontrolled asthma patients, homecare options and supporting optimisation of pathways that streamline patient care and resource management across a large network, we’re making treatment options more accessible to patients across England.
4. Advancing Treatment Guidelines: Improving Asthma Management Across Europe and Asia
Our work across Europe and Asia aims to close the gap between international evidence-based treatment guidelines and current clinical practices to improve patient outcomes.
- In Germany, AstraZeneca is raising awareness about guideline-directed medical treatment. In collaboration with healthcare professionals and asthma patients, an Asthma Dossier was published to help inform the conversations patients have with their healthcare professional.
- In Japan, national asthma guidelines were updated to include “asthma remission” as the goal for asthma treatment management.
- In China, the CARE4ALL program educates healthcare professionals on the latest evidence-based therapy recommendations from the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA).
- In Malaysia, Project ERASED helps to identify and manage high-risk asthma patients in primary care and promote disease education among them. As a result, we’ve engaged more than 600 healthcare professionals in educational workshops to date and more than 90% of participating healthcare professionals have advocated for initiatives to eliminate or reduce Short-Acting Beta-Agonist (SABA)-only reliever use, in alignment with current guidelines.2
Our aim with Project ERASED is to help save thousands of people living with asthma in Malaysia by connecting them with guideline-directed therapy.
5. Pioneering Innovation Across All Asthma Severities
Asthma care spans a wide spectrum, from mild to moderate to severe cases – all of which require a different medicine with varying modalities and targets to control disease. We’re working to change the asthma treatment paradigm with new medicines in development. Development of innovative therapies could expand treatment access to an even broader range of patients. We are committed to this innovation that would support patients across the entire spectrum of disease.
Developments into novel ways to better manage asthma could potentially broaden access to therapies for patients whose disease is not controlled. Our goal is simple: to eliminate asthma attacks to improve quality of life for all people living with asthma.
It’s our global imperative to ensure that every person with asthma has the opportunity to thrive. We’re not just treating the disease — we’re transforming access by reducing barriers, empowering healthcare systems and ensuring every patient’s breath counts.
The journey to transform asthma care and improve access is our mission, and together, we’re making a big difference.
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