Physicians have always aimed to treat every patient in an individual way, however the era of Precision Medicine that we have now entered provides more opportunities for physicians to optimize therapy according to the patients individual characteristics. Especially in the field of asthma and COPD the disease label becomes less important in determining the right treatment, whereas the so-called treatable traits (that can be present in both asthma and COPD patients) become much more important (Augusti et al. Treatable traits: towards precision medicine of chronic airway diseases. Eur Resp J 2016: 47:410-9). Because of the rapid developments in this field it is really important to keep physicians updated. Clinical implementation is still a challenge and therefore in this symposium we will not only present the newest developments in the area of Precision Medicine/Systems Medicine (Prof. Dr. P. Sterk and Prof. Dr. T. Radsstake), but also challenges and opportunities in clinical uptake. Prof. Sterk was the project leader of the large IMI-funded U-BIOPRED consortium and he will be able to present the newest outcomes from this large study on asthma. Prof. T. Radstake is a rheumatologist and one of the key opinion leaders in Systems Medicine, he will present recent data on reclassification of immune mediated disease for Precision Medicine purposes. Prof. Dr. Bel, head of the department of Respiratory Medicine in the AMC, and past-president of the ERS will emphasize what is already possible for use in clinical practice for respiratory patients including for optimizing treatment in severe asthma patients with biologicals. Prof. Dr. Bruce Carleton is a clinical pharmacologist with much experience in implementing pharmacogenomics into clinical practice. He will show clinical examples of successful implementation (also in other fields than respiratory). 

The program of the symposium is as follows:

12.00-12.30 Walk in and lunch

12.30 Welcome and introduction

Chair: Prof. Dr. A.H. Maitland-van der Zee

12.45 Precision Medicine in Severe Asthma: a clinical perspective

Prof. Dr. E.H.D. Bel (Academic Medical Center Amsterdam)

13.15 Making Precision Medicine Results Matter to Patients and Clinicians

Prof. Dr. B.C. Carleton (University of British Colombia, Vancouver, Canada)

13.45 Short Break

14.00  A Systems Medicine Approach to Asthma: Results from the U-BIOPRED consortium

Prof. Dr. P.J. Sterk (Academic Medical Center Amsterdam)

14.30 Molecular Reclassification of Immune Mediated Disease for Precision Medicine Purposes: Are We Beyond Fiction?

Prof. Dr. T.R.D.J. Radstake (University Medical Center Utrecht)

15.00 Tea

The symposium will be targeted towards researchers and physicians in the area of respiratory disease. The learning objectives are:

1. What is Precision Medicine

2. What can be done with precision medicine in current clincial practice for asthma patients

3. What is Systems Medicine

4. What are the most recent results obtained in systems medicine approaches in asthma that can be translated to clinical practice

5. What can we learn from other immune mediated disease for systems medicine approach to asthma

6. How can precision medicine be implemented in daily clinical practice.