Boehringer Ingelheim has paired with a British company to create a first-of-its-kind patient registry to better understand chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and how it can be typically treated in primary care offices.
Advancing the Patient Experience in COPD (APEX COPD) is specifically designed to improve the management of patients with COPD in the primary care setting. Partnering with Boehringer ”“ the German drugmaker whose North American headquarters are in Ridgefield ”“ is Britain”™s Optimum Patient Care Ltd., which specializes in delivering medical research and services to improve diagnosis, treatment and care of chronic diseases within family care and specialist practices.
APEX COPD will report findings and insights to be shared in academic journals and medical congresses. In addition, the registry will provide real-time, patient-reported information as well as relevant information from the electronic medical record (EMR) in a structured format to physicians at the point-of-care, to aid those doctors in making a clinical judgment.
The registry will eventually enroll 3,000 COPD patients who are being treated by a primary care physician. COPD is the fourth leading cause of death, affecting more than 1 in 20 adults in the U.S.
“For nearly a century, Boehringer Ingelheim has been committed to leading efforts to advance scientific knowledge and improve the medicine we provide at the point-of-care,” said Dr. Gokul Gopalan, executive director, head clinical development, medical affairs, respiratory primary care at Boehringer Ingelheim. “By partnering with another industry leader, Optimum Patient Care, we hope to combine our expertise to bring new insights to help primary care physicians and patients make informed decisions to treat COPD.”