PG13 - Outcome measures of clinical trials for new drugs for respiratory disease

Postgraduate Course
Chairs: A. Rossi (Bergamo, Italy), L. Bjermer (Lund, Sweden)
Aims: The ERS has in progress two Task Forces working on the definition of outcomes in COPD and asthma, respectively. The critical description of these outcomes is important for young researchers to understand how to plan a clinical trial. The specific aims of this course are:
• to explain the differences between outcomes and markers;
• to illustrate the real value of pulmonary biomarkers in clinical trials;
• to describe how to plan a clinical trial with patients suffering from asthma or COPD;
• to describe how to interpret responses in clinical trials with patients suffering from asthma or COPD.

Defining outcomes and markers A. Agusti (Palma De Mallorca, Spain)
Pulmonary biomarkers in asthma and COPD P. Montuschi (Rome, Italy)
Emerging concepts in outcome assessment for COPD clinical trials P. M. A. Calverley (Liverpool, United Kingdom)