Centre of Research Excellence in Asthma Treatable Traits (CREATT)

Asthma is a major issue of utmost importance to human health. It is common, affecting over 300 million people worldwide, including one in nine Australian adults. It has a significant impact on the health-care system, and on patient’s health, quality of life and productivity. Recently asthma deaths have started to rise in countries like Australia, the UK and USA. In fact, at least one person in Australia dies every day from asthma. In a 2019 report from Asthma UK it was noted that deaths from asthma attacks are the highest they have been in the last decade, and have increased by more than 33% over the last ten years. These data are alarming because asthma is a treatable disease. These data also highlight the need for urgent action, and the need to redefine asthma and its management; these were the recommendations proposed by the Commissioners of the 2017 Lancet 'After Asthma; Redefining Airway Disease' report.
Current approaches treat all patients in the same way, using a step up- step down approach that does not recognise the complexity and heterogeneity that is evident in severe asthma and in sub populations of people with asthma such as pregnant women, those with comorbidities including vocal cord dysfunction, and risk factors like physical inactivity and excessive corticosteroids use or inappropriate antibiotics use. A personalised medicine approach is needed, one which aims to deliver the most appropriate treatment to the most appropriate patient, limiting exposure to ineffective treatments and providing individualised, targeted care. Treatable traits is a personalised medicine model of care, designed to address limitations of the current step-care approach to asthma management. Our programme will include two themes 1). A clinical trials programme to test different interventions in different populations and settings, and 2). A platform that advances traits that are clinically relevant and important to consumers and clinicians.