MEDIA RELEASE PR37162
Boehringer Ingelheim and GlaxoSmithKline Back EFA's Call for Urgent Improvements in Care
for People With Lung Disease This World COPD Day
BRUSSELS, INGELHEIM, and LONDON, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
Boehringer Ingelheim and GSK, companies with a strong heritage in COPD
(chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and a commitment to improved patient
care, have today announced their support of The European Federation of
Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients' Associations' (EFA) call for urgent
improvement in the care of people with COPD. To coincide with World COPD Day
2009, EFA has published a comprehensive overview of COPD in Europe, the EFA
Book on COPD in Europe: Sharing and Caring, which highlights local successes
and serious shortfalls in the way the disease is diagnosed and managed.
COPD is a chronic lung disease associated with a high level of mortality.
According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, 210
million people suffer from COPD and it currently ranks as the fourth leading
cause of death. However, the WHO predicts that it will become the third
leading cause of death worldwide by 2030. In 2005 COPD was estimated to
have killed over 3 million people - more than HIV/AIDS or lung and breast
cancer combined. Despite this, COPD remains a scarcely known, under-
diagnosed and under-treated disease that demands a changed approach to
diagnosis and treatment. Fewer than half of patients with the condition
have a proper diagnosis and only 35% of patients receive a regular prescribed
medication.
These issues, among others, have been highlighted by EFA who collected
European data for the first time from patient groups' perspectives and are
now calling for more to be done to reduce the burden of COPD and improve
patient care. Over 11 million Europeans are affected by COPD and face its
debilitating consequences on a daily basis.
EFA's book recognises that even in its early stages, COPD has a
devastating impact on patients' quality of life as it begins to damage the
lungs irreversibly causing sufferers to struggle for breath and with simple
daily tasks. In addition, patients are frustrated about the difficulty in
gaining effective management of their condition including early diagnosis,
education, support services and access to the best treatments available. The
goal of EFA's efforts in the coming months will be to reduce the impact of
COPD on patients and their caregivers and to focus efforts on a call to
action for real improvements.
BI and GSK, who sponsored the project, support EFA's conclusion that
there is an urgent need for a coordinated strategy of advocacy both at
European and national level. To improve overall COPD management, the
following four areas of focus were identified:
- Increase the awareness of the public at large about COPD, its
symptoms and risk factors in order to prevent the disease and to
encourage sufferers to seek early diagnosis
- Raise the priority of COPD with policy makers to encourage the
creation of screening guidelines and mandates for early diagnosis and
management of the disease
- Improve the access to care and management for diagnosed COPD
patients
- Safeguard the respiratory health of future generations.
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Source: Boehringer Ingelheim and GSK
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