Evaluation Of A Financial Incentive To Improve The Use Of Preventive Medicines By People With Asthma
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$137,860.00
Summary
Rising costs are threatening the future viability of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. New approaches are needed to address this challenge, including developing financial incentives for consumers to use effective low cost medicines in preference to higher cost alternatives. This study will develop a consumer incentive for use of low cost asthma preventer medicines, model the economic effects of this and bring together stakeholders to examine the policy and practice changes needed to implement ....Rising costs are threatening the future viability of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. New approaches are needed to address this challenge, including developing financial incentives for consumers to use effective low cost medicines in preference to higher cost alternatives. This study will develop a consumer incentive for use of low cost asthma preventer medicines, model the economic effects of this and bring together stakeholders to examine the policy and practice changes needed to implement the incentive.Read moreRead less
Initiating Events In The Development Of Allergic Airway Inflammation
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$452,545.00
Summary
Despite recent advances we still do not understand the basic mechanisms which underlie the development of allergic airway inflammatory diseases such as rhinitis and asthma. It has been previously shown that when pollen are exposed to water they release a large number of very small starch granules which contain a number of potent allergens as well as plant steroids. In addition house dust mite allergens which are strongly associated with asthma are mostly located in small faecal pellets. Both the ....Despite recent advances we still do not understand the basic mechanisms which underlie the development of allergic airway inflammatory diseases such as rhinitis and asthma. It has been previously shown that when pollen are exposed to water they release a large number of very small starch granules which contain a number of potent allergens as well as plant steroids. In addition house dust mite allergens which are strongly associated with asthma are mostly located in small faecal pellets. Both these particles are ideally sized to enter the respiratory tract and initiate inflammatory responses. We have shown that these responses appear to be of the type that is needed to initiate allergic reactions. We intend to further study the interactions of these small inhaled allergen containing particles with cells of the respiratory tract. In this proposal we will look at both alveolar macrophages and respiratory epithelial cells. These approaches will not only provide new information about the processes of airway inflammation caused by allergens but may also define new therapeutic approaches to the treatment of these diseases.Read moreRead less