Randomized controlled trials remain the gold standard for demonstrating the efficacy and safety of treatments. However, they are purposely simplified to reduce complexity, excluding more complex clinical cases. Real-World Evidence complements clinical trial data by providing information on how treatments perform in everyday care, when outcomes are influenced by factors such as comorbidities, smoking status, inhaler technique, adherence, socioeconomic circumstances and access to healthcare.
RWEs offer population-level information on treatment patterns and outcomes. These insights can support clinicians in tailoring treatment to individual needs and provide valuable evidence for payers, policymakers, and healthcare systems.
PERSONAL POINT OF VIEW
By: Maria Messerer, Medical director Chiesi Nordics
What makes the Nordic countries especially valuable in this context is our globally unique infrastructure for generating high-quality Real-World Evidence. National and local registers capture information on diagnoses, prescriptions, hospitalisations, mortality, outpatient visits and socioeconomic factors. Through personal identification numbers, these data can be linked across healthcare databases and followed over long periods of time. This creates an exceptional opportunity to understand the real needs of people living with COPD and to turn data into meaningful improvements in care.
I do believe we could make even better use of it. At Chiesi, we are investing in registry studies, hoping to contribute to a better understanding of COPD and contribute to increased health equity. I am particularly pleased and proud that we, for two consecutive years, have presented or contributed to posters at the ERS congress, based on Nordic registry data.
In 2025, we shared findings from Danish registries together with Yunus Çolak, Copenhagen University hospital. This year, we presented Swedish register data developed in collaboration with Helen Backman, Umeå University (see summary below).
Nordic countries provide some of the world’s strongest platforms for generating actionable evidence from national and quality registers. By using these unique resources, we can gain a deeper understanding of COPD and help improve outcomes for the people living with the disease. Seeing this happen makes me truly proud.
Real-world inhalation drug dispensing patterns of COPD patients in Sweden
POSTER
Presented by Helena Backman
The management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has changed considerably over the past decade, driven by updated treatment recommendations and the availability of new inhaled therapies such as single-inhaler triple therapy (SITT). This study provides an overview of real-world inhalation medicine dispensation patterns in COPD patients in Sweden.
SITT maintenance therapy increases from 2017 to 2025 and was one of the major treatment options for COPD patients while SABA remained a prevalent treatment option. Future studies linking dispensation patterns to clinical data are needed to clarify whether increased SITT use reflects guideline-based escalation to triple therapy or switching from multiple-inhaler triple therapy leaving an indication of insufficient adherence to treatment recommendations.
Reference: Backman et al. Real-world inhalation drug dispensing patterns of COPD patients in Sweden. ERS, Barcelona, Spain, Sep 2026
ID 24288-15.06.2026