Some research studies conducted to find possible causes or treatments for asthma, or to investigate social or psychological aspects of the condition, require human involvement. These are known as clinical trials.
Clinical trials are research studies that are carefully designed to answer specific questions concerning the safety and effectiveness of a drug, treatment, or diagnostic method, or to find ways to improve patients' quality of life.
Clinical trials allow researchers to find out how different patients respond to treatments while carefully monitoring the health and safety of the patients who volunteer.
All new medical treatments for asthma must go through the clinical trial process before they can be approved for sale or general use. For example research into the potential causes of asthma and related conditions could require lung function tests to look at differences between asthmatics and non asthmatics. Such studies require volunteers.
Clinical research must be approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee before volunteers can be asked to participate. The success of clinical research, and the development of new treatments, is dependent on volunteer participation in these trials or studies.
On this page we display some asthma studies currently being conducted which require volunteer participants.
Please be aware that Asthma Foundations play no role in these studies other than to provide a means of recruiting potential study participants. We cannot give any guarantees about the quality or the outcomes of the studies, and ask that any interested volunteers contact the researchers directly with questions they may have.
Health-care needs of people with asthma who smoke
With a higher proportion of asthma patients smoking as compared to the general population and with smoking being a major risk factor for continuous lung function decline, we anticipated that exploring the health-care needs of people with asthma who smoke would be crucial. The overall aim of this project is to develop the feasibility of a smoking cessation model that can empower health professionals such as pharmacists to deliver effective smoking cessation services for patients with asthma. The objective of this study is to obtain an in-depth understanding of the smoking behaviours of people with asthma with respect to motivation to initiate, continuing or quitting smoking, smoking cessation technique preferences, smoking topography, perception of how smoking affects their asthma, readiness to quit smoking history and opinions about possible roles of health-care professionals such as community pharmacists in providing smoking cessation services.
* Reimbursement towards your time will be offered.
More information available here.
To register your interest or to get more information about the study, please contact Dr. Maya Saba at the Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney:
Phone: 0449 852 001
Email: Maya Saba
New asthma medication trial
The GlaxoSmithKline Medicines Research Unit is currently seeking men and women with asthma to take part in a trial over 13-18 weeks looking at the effects of a study drug (fluticason furoate, an inhaled corticosteroid). They aim to compare your lung function when taking the study drug in the morning versus in the evening, and compare that to a placebo.
You must have been diagnosed with asthma, be aged 18-70, not have any other significant illness and be stable on an inhaled corticosteroid or combination medication.
For more information please call 1800 GSK GSK (1800 475 475) or email volunteers.4.trials@gsk.com
Looking for smokers without asthma or COPD
Researchers at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research
are investigating whether some lung function tests are
sensitive enough to be able to be used in the early detection of
COPD in smokers. They are looking for healthy smokers to help them
determine this.
If you have smoked for ten years or more and have never been
diagnosed with asthma or COPD, they'd like to hear from you. The
research involves one visit to either Glebe or St Leonards in
Sydney where you will undertake some easy-to-perform lung function
tests. The visit will take around 2 to 2.5 hours. You will be
reimbursed up to $50 for your travel costs.
For more information or to get involved, contact Kanika on ph 02
91140149 or kani4547@uni.sydney.edu.au
Severe Asthma Research Study
Asthma researchers at a number of Australia hospitals are trialling a potential new treatment for severe asthma and are seeking volunteers to take part in an international study.
If you have been on regular treatment with high dose asthma medication and have also needed regular treatment with steroid tablets or injections in the last 6 months then you may be eligible to take part.
If included, you would be given an additional treatment (either active or placebo) which is an injection every four weeks for six to seven months, while the study doctor reduces your current steroid medication. You would be provided with study medication, steroid medication and study-related respiratory medical care at no cost to you for the duration of the study. Volunteers must be aged 12 and over.
For more information call 1800 800 285.
Participate in research and use a website called Healthy.me to manage your asthma!
Have you been diagnosed with asthma? Are you 18 or older with easy access to the Internet? You are invited to take part in an innovative research study on new technologies conducted at the Centre for Health Informatics, University of New South Wales.
- Use a new website to manage your health and answer a few short questionnaires.
- Learn how your health compares with others!
For more information, please contact: Dr Amael Arguel, a.arguel@unsw.edu.au, (02) 9385 8691 or visit https://healthyme.med.unsw.edu.au/healthyme/info.html for a registration of interest.
This study has been approved by the UNSW Human Research Ethics Committee (approval no. HC12213, title: healthy.me an online system for health), and by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners National Research and Evaluation Committee (approval
no. NREEC 12-005).
Tablet for Asthma: The AMAZES Study
Leading specialists and researchers in Newcastle, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth are looking for:
- Adults with asthma (aged 18 years and over)
- Who are non-smokers (or ex smokers) and
- Who experience asthma symptoms despite taking regular preventer medication
To take part in a trial investigating whether taking an antibiotic tablet (azithromycin) alongside normal asthma medications helps to reduce attacks and symptoms. Participants will be given tablets (either medication or placebo) to take along with their regular asthma medications for 48 weeks.
For more information, email amazes@newcastle.edu.au or call 02 4042 0131 (Newcastle) or 02 9114 0444 (Sydney).
This study is supported by The National Health and Medical Research Council and is approved by the Hunter New England Health Research Ethics Committee (Approval # 08/11/19/3.03)
New intervention for children with asthma
Researchers at the University of Sydney are investigating a new
psychological intervention for children with asthma. In doing this
study, we hope to learn more about how best to help and support
children to manage their asthma.
Parents of 8-12 year olds who would like help to manage their
child's asthma are invited to participate in the study.
The research will be conducted at The University of Sydney,
Camperdown NSW 2006.
For more information, please phone 02 9036 5037 or email
asthmastudy@psych.usyd.edu.au