Lung Disease Research Fear

Experts today condemned the ‘pitiful’ levels of funding for research into lung disease – one of the UK’s biggest killers.

The British Thoracic Society (BTS) said that nearly one in four deaths were due to diseases of the lung, including lung cancer, emphysema, bronchitis and asthma.

But only 2.8 per cent of the Medical Research Council’s total expenditure of pounds 417.8 million in 2001-02 was allocated for lung research. The BTS pointed out that lung disease placed an enormous burden on society and cost the NHS 2.5 billion a year – more than any other disease area.

Prof Geoff Laurent, BTSmember and director at the Centre for Respiratory Research at University College London, called for the Government to address the imbalance between the proportion of people with lung diseases and research funding.