Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease--SMi's Second Annual Conference. 10-11 March 2004, London, UK

Approximately 75 delegates attended this conference over the course of 2 days, the majority of whom were drawn from the pharmaceutical industry. The speakers represented a more varied group, and included clinical physicians and representatives of the British Thoracic Society and the World Health Organisation (WHO). Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease that has only been recognized by physicians for the last 12 years, and consequently it has a low level of public awareness. However, the WHO estimates that COPD will be among the top five factors affecting quality-of-life in industrialized countries by 2020. Clearly this represents a major unmet medical need, and the focus of the presentations reflected this. Presentations were balanced between those that attempted to differentiate the disease state from asthma, and those that discussed the suitability of currently available or indicated asthma therapeutics for the treatment of COPD.