Asthma clinical trials of American Lung Association/Asthma Clinical Research Centers (ALA-ACRC): what have we learned in 12 years?

Abstract

The American Lung Association Asthma Clinical Research Centers (ALA-ACRC) is a research network focused on performing clinical trials that directly affect medical care for adults and children with asthma. The group of eighteen clinical research centers and a data-coordinating center perform studies supported by the American Lung Association, the National Institute of Health/National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NIH/NHLBI), and partnership with industry. The network has completed and published eight clinical trials (seven randomized control trials and one validation study of a diagnostic tool), numerous ancillary studies, and has four ongoing trials at the time of publication of this review. The network's trials have focused on areas such as the relative merits of different adjunctive treatments for asthma not controlled on inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) alone, the effect of treatment of comorbid diseases on asthma care, and studies evaluating techniques used in the conduct of clinical trials of treatments for asthma. This review will describe the accomplishments of our network to date and the effect of those accomplishments on asthma care. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.