Severe asthma in adults: an orphan disease?

Severe asthma affects fewer than 10% of patients with asthma, is associated with a severe risk of death and disability, has a great impact on health and quality of life, and represents a huge cost to patients and society. Given the poor response to treatment and the side effects associated with medications for severe asthma, more efficient, cost-effective, and phenotype-specific medications are needed. Considering severe asthma as an orphan disease could encourage the pharmaceutical industry to stratify studies based on a more detailed characterization of study subjects at baseline, resulting in the development of novel therapeutic approaches.