Defining the Future of Asthma Remission, With Linda Rogers, MD

Clinical remission in asthma remains a promising yet elusive benchmark. While emerging biologic therapies have made deep disease control achievable for some, the field still lacks consensus on what true remission means and how to measure it.

In a recent interview with HCPLive, Linda Rogers, MD, outlined the key challenges in defining remission and the opportunities ahead for improving patient outcomes. Rogers will be presenting "Clinical Remission In Asthma: A New Era Of Treating To Target" in an upcoming pulmonary conference, hosted by Mount Sinai Respiratory Institute, in New York from November 6 - 7, 2025.1

“The field[s] [of] both allergy and pulmonary need to agree on what our working definition is going to be, and then I think we need to track people over the long term,” Rogers said. “We really need long-term studies of outcomes so that we can keep refining those definitions.”

She drew comparisons to other chronic inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, where clinicians have already developed practical remission definitions informed by long-term outcomes.2,3 However, asthma presents unique challenges. Maintaining lung function over decades represents a far longer horizon than other inflammatory conditions, making it harder to capture through short-term endpoints.

Current asthma remission definitions often rely on time-bound criteria—patients remaining in a controlled state for a full year, for instance. Rogers believes the field may benefit from a more flexible, dynamic approach. Instead of a strict 12-month threshold, she envisions a model where patients can enter remission, relapse, and re-achieve control, reflecting the fluctuating nature of airway inflammation.

To move the concept forward, Rogers believes remission should become a formal endpoint in clinical trials, particularly those studying advanced therapies.

Currently, remission rates average around 30% among patients receiving biologic therapy. Rogers sees this as both a success and a challenge. The next step, she said, is identifying what distinguishes those who respond from the 70% who do not.

“[A] part of that may be that we're just getting to patients too late when there's really been too much damage, and we need to get to them earlier,” Rogers explained.1

Ultimately, Rogers called for raising the bar in asthma management. She emphasized that clinicians should strive for zero exacerbations, escalating therapy aggressively when patients fail to meet treatment objectives.

“Hopefully we'll have more therapies that achieve these kinds of responses, and that will be great,” Rogers said.1 “I've been doing this now in asthma for…25 years, and I’ve never been more excited by the options of what I have for my patients.”

Relevant disclosures for Rogers include Sanofi, Regeneron, AstraZeneca, and Gene D.

References

1. Rogers, L. Clinical Remission In Asthma: A New Era Of Treating To Target. Presented at Mount Sinai Respiratory Institute in New York from November 6 - 7, 2025.

2. Shapiro SC. Remission Definitions in RA: Common Questions & Implications for Clinical Practice - The Rheumatologist. The Rheumatologist. Published September 28, 2023. Accessed October 24, 2025. https://www.the-rheumatologist.org/article/remission-definitions-in-ra-common-questions-implications-for-clinical-practice/

3. Rubin D, Sninsky C, Siegmund B, et al. P169 DEFINITION OF REMISSION IN INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE: ASSESSMENT OF PATIENT AND PHYSICIAN PERSPECTIVES. Gastroenterology. 2020;158(3):S124-S125. doi:https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2020.01.023