Optimum Patient Care Global (OPC Global) warmly welcomes the Singapore Severe Asthma Registry (SSAR) to the International Severe Asthma Registry (ISAR)!

ISAR is one of the many efforts by the Observational & Pragmatic Research Institute (OPRI), a member of OPC Global’s research network.
Established by a partnership between Nanyang Technological University, Singapore’s (NTU Singapore) Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine), Changi General Hospital (CGH), Singapore General Hospital (SGH), and Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), SSAR will be the first severe asthma registry in Singapore.

“I am delighted by SSAR’s collaboration with ISAR,” says Professor David Price, Director of OPC Global and OPRI who leads the ISAR. “It’s going to be an incredible step towards the advancement of severe asthma research on a global scale and I cannot wait to see the addition of Singaporean perspectives to our current knowledge.”

SSAR’s aims of improving the understanding of severe asthma, collecting evidence of treatment effectiveness and safety, and identifying predictors of treatment success aligns so well with ISAR’s vision of identifying the right patients, at the right time, for the right treatments. By joining ISAR, SSAR will be part of a mutually beneficial relationship where it can participate in and benefit from ISAR’s real-world research.

“It is not enough to conduct clinical trials to determine how effective a drug is, without understanding the patient the drug is for,” says Professor Price. “That’s where real-world research comes in, it bridges the gap between scientific findings and patient experience by showing us how drugs are actually used in real-life. In fact, findings from real-life research have helped shape clinical guidelines and quality standards for patient care.”

SSAR’s collection of real-world data will not only enhance the current understanding of severe asthma in Singapore, but it will also be a wonderful addition to ISAR’s work on severe asthma at a global scale. On the other end, SSAR can tap on ISAR’s research that is supported by a global consortium of severe asthma experts and has strong statistical power (using data from 14,269 patients from 25 countries, including 95 patients from SSAR as of September 2022).

Looking towards the future, ISAR aims to embed registry data collection in clinical care, build interactive dashboards where clinicians can track longitudinal changes in patient status, and create patient summaries that integrate with electronic health records. By being part of ISAR, SSAR will naturally be involved in these innovative practices. As a result, severe asthma patients in Singapore will be the ones to truly benefit.  

OPC Global wishes SSAR the very best in achieving its goal of registering 200 patients by the end of the year and looks forward to a sustained relationship that’s advantageous for both ISAR and SSAR.