Chiesi UK and Ireland has announced a new programme to help transform COPD diagnosis across the UK by providing NHS primary and community care organisations with access to Clario’s ArtiQ.Spiro, an AI-enabled spirometry decision support software. The Chiesi ‘COSMIC (COPD Spirometry Management Supported by AI in a Community Setting)’ programme will provide access to ArtiQ.Spiro through collaborative working projects and donations, and will focus on increasing NHS access to high-quality spirometry to strengthen the workforce’s diagnostic capacity and support patients with access to timely diagnosis.
Despite being one of the UK’s most common respiratory conditions, COPD remains significantly underdiagnosed, with an estimated two million people living with the disease without a diagnosis. Delayed diagnosis can lead to avoidable disease progression and an increased risk of exacerbations, with COPD being the second most common cause of emergency hospital admissions in the UK. The burden of COPD falls unevenly across society – with socioeconomic deprivation associated with higher prevalence, poorer patient outcomes and higher mortality.
Claire Adams, Respiratory Clinical Lead, North-East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, said: “Spirometry services were significantly disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many areas across the country still working to restore capacity. Alongside this, workforce challenges exist, and there are limited numbers of accredited clinicians and often low confidence in interpreting results, which continue to widen the COPD diagnosis gap. Accelerating access to ArtiQ.Spiro – an AI-enabled diagnostic tool – has real potential to address underdiagnosis in COPD, helping to reduce backlogs, reach more patients and give healthcare professionals greater confidence to support their clinical decision-making.”
Spirometry, a test which measures lung function, is the primary means to diagnose COPD. Yet workforce pressures, the need for accreditation and issues performing the test and interpreting results continue to affect timely diagnosis and consistent access to respiratory services.
ArtiQ.Spiro supports healthcare professionals to confidently use spirometry by offering assessment of spirometry test quality (prompting reassessment while the patient is still present to correct poor quality readings), guideline aligned interpretation delivered in seconds and disease probability outputs to support clinical judgement. It is already being used in parts of the NHS, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance to enable the NHS to use ArtiQ.Spiro during a three-year evidence generation period.
Shish Patel, Senior Director, Medical Affairs, Chiesi UK, said: “By bringing together Chiesi’s respiratory expertise and AI-enabled diagnostic technology, we have an opportunity to transform how COPD is identified and diagnosed, particularly for communities where the unmet need is greatest. Our ambition is to support NHS primary and community care organisations in the diagnosis of COPD patients, enabling timely intervention and better patient outcomes. With AI increasingly being used in healthcare, it is our hope that this programme will not only accelerate diagnosis, but help address the inequalities that mean some communities face poorer health outcomes than others.”
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