The Centre is the UK’s first integrated facility focused solely on improving the quality of life of people with asthma by finding better treatments and making them available faster than ever before.

The Centre is led by Professors Aziz Sheikh and Chris Griffiths, two of the UK’s most talented experts in applied asthma research and is co-ordinated through the University of Edinburgh and Queen Mary, University of London.

More than five million people in the UK are affected by asthma yet research into this life threatening condition is chronically underfunded, with new asthma treatments currently taking an average of 17 years to develop. Asthma UK’s vision for this pioneering, multidisciplinary research initiative is to halve the time it takes to get innovations to people with asthma and to develop the next generation of world class applied asthma researchers.

Dr Gwyneth Davies, Respiratory Physician and Clinical Associate Professor within the Asthma and Allergy Group at the College of Medicine, Swansea University said: “Being part of the new Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research is an exciting development for Swansea and an important step forward for people with asthma in Wales and the UK.

“Rates of asthma in Wales are amongst the highest in the world, with over 314,000 people affected. Asthma affects one in nine children and one in ten adults in Wales with higher rates of hospital admissions in children than elsewhere in the UK. This Centre means that asthma treatments can be tested more rapidly and patients will get access to effective treatments more quickly.

“Even before the Centre's launch, it was already having an impact, with three PhD projects starting in Swansea which utilise the considerable health informatics expertise here. These relate to testing an exercise intervention in school children; creating an asthma observatory in Wales to monitor asthma outcomes and answer important questions about asthma; and finding out the hidden costs of asthma to society, such as work days lost. The UK Postgraduate Training Scheme for Asthma Researchers will also be run from Swansea University.”

Kay Boycott, Asthma UK’s Chief Executive, says: “The introduction into clinical use of the pressurised metered-dose inhaler (pMDI) - the first modern inhaler for asthma management – took over 40 years from initial lab discovery through clinical trials and into practice.

“More than half a century later asthma still kills and there are tens of thousands of people with asthma facing a daily struggle to breathe. This is why it is so vital for Asthma UK to invest significantly in the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research and to kick start a new era of improved discovery-to-treatment times.”

Centre Director Aziz Sheikh says: “The Centre addresses a very real need for collaborative research that can facilitate large-scale trials which have potential to benefit the millions of people affected by asthma. I am delighted that some of the UK’s top asthma researchers are contributing to this unprecedented initiative where they can share expertise and insights to drive forward major improvements in asthma care provision and better outcomes for our patients.”

Centre Co-Director Chris Griffiths says: “The recent National Review of Asthma Deaths (NRAD) reports the urgent need to improve asthma care. The opening of the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research is perfectly-timed and marks a significant step forward in delivering world-class applied research to improve asthma care and reduce asthma deaths and hospitalisation in the UK.”

http://www.asthma.org.uk/research-our-research-achievements