The ERS NEuroCOUGH Clinical Research Consortium (CRC), led by Prof. Lorcan McGarvey and Prof. Lieven Dupont, passed a significant milestone this summer with the opening of further sites across Europe, in Toulouse, Frankfurt and Warsaw. They join the UK sites in Belfast, Hull, Manchester and London and with almost 200 patients now recruited to the NEuroCOUGH Registry, this places NEuroCOUGH on a strong footing as we move through 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted on almost every facet of human existence over the past three years and clinical research has been no exception. The reallocation of clinical resources to meet the challenge of COVID-19 has been a major obstacle in the progress of non-covid research across the world. Launching a new project under such circumstances has been a major challenge but one that has been met by the enormous efforts of our CRC members including our industry partners, Merck, Shionogi, Chiesi, Bellus and Bayer, along with Trialance, our CRO and the research and governance support staff across UK and Europe.
In June 2022, Prof Laurent Guillemault’s clinic in Toulouse, France, was the first EU site to gain ethical approval. They were swiftly followed by Dr Peter Kardos in Frankfurt, Germany and Dr Marta Dabrowska in Warsaw, Poland. All three sites have now recruited their first patients and will soon be joined by Prof. Lieven Dupont , Leuven (Belgium), Dr Christian Domingo, Barcelona (Spain), Prof. Federico Lavorini, Florence (Italy) and Dr Jan Willem van den Berg, Zwolle (The Netherlands).
After a meeting of the Consortium at the ERS Congress in Barcelona in September 2022, thoughts now turn to the next phase of the project: expansion of sites within the countries already participating together with the addition of new nations, all with the aim of reaching our recruitment target of 2000 patients with Chronic Cough. We believe the experience gained from the successful opening of sites across UK, France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands has provided the blueprint for a second wave of sites and continue the momentum of the NEuroCOUGH CRC in its objective to improve the lives of patients with Chronic Cough.
Cough Clinics across the UK and Europe wishing to join the project should direct enquiries to the CRC Chairs, Professors McGarvey and Dupont (l.mcgarvey@qub.ac.uk; lieven.dupont@uzleuven.be).