The Search For New COPD Therapies

The COPD Foundation is calling for a change in clinical trial design that would test experimental therapies in subsets of patients.

As many as 30 million people in the United States are estimated to have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), although approximately half don’t have a diagnosis. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, COPD was consistently the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. Diagnosis and treatment is complicated by the fact that COPD is really something of an umbrella category for lung disease that is characterized by difficulty breathing. The two most common conditions that fit under the COPD rubric include emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

The current treatment choices for COPD are varied and complicated, mirroring the condition itself. But in broad strokes, they can be grouped into three main medication categories: