New understanding in the treatment of cough (NEUROCOUGH) ERS Clinical Research Collaboration: improving care and treatment for patients with cough

Chronic cough is a common and troublesome clinical problem and currently there are no effective treatments [1]. While individual specialist cough clinics have been set up in some European countries, there is no formal mechanism to develop common management approaches. Furthermore, the vast majority of clinical trials of novel anti-tussive treatment have been conducted in a limited number of sites in the UK and USA, with little in the way of cough clinical trial infrastructure across Europe [2–7]. The NEw Understanding in the tReatment Of COUGH (NEUROCOUGH) Clinical Research Collaboration (CRC) seeks to address this through creating a platform allowing clinicians, together with researchers in academia and industrial partners across Europe and beyond, to exchange ideas and facilitate collaborations geared towards improved care and treatment for patients with cough. The core aims of NEUROCOUGH are to: 1) create a registry of Europe-wide specialist cough clinics operating according to agreed and standardised protocols; 2) establish a Europe-wide registry of “clinical trial ready” chronic cough patients suitable for multicentre experimental medicine studies and later phase precision medicine clinical trials; 3) seek public engagement to provide input into NEUROCOUGH based on the priorities and unmet needs of patients; and 4) encourage early career researchers and clinicians into the field of cough. In time, we envisage that NEUROCOUGH will bring clinicians, scientists, patients and industry together for larger-scale cough projects in a way that to date has not been possible. NEUROCOUGH will place Europe at the forefront of clinical improvements in chronic cough and provide a strong platform for attracting major clinical trials of anti-tussives, thus speeding up drug discovery with the ultimate aim of providing better treatments for patients with chronic cough.