THE partnership among pharmaceutical companies, medical societies and patient groups, as well as the government, is critical in helping Filipinos conquer lung diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer.
At a summit on lung health on Wednesday in Mandaluyong City, Dr. Cyril Tolosa, medical director of drug maker AstraZeneca, said that they organized the summit to advocate lung health as they do not want to focus first on lung cancer alone.
“It is really scary for anyone, so the approach of promoting lung health helps patients look at it from a positive perspective that if I keep healthy, if I keep my lungs healthy, I can live longer,” Tolosa said.
Tolosa added that through their campaign, they hope to find patients with asthma, COPD and early-stage lung cancer so they can improve their lives and increase their survival.
He added that lung health is a “multidisciplinary approach,” as no one entity has the power to push for lung health.
“We, as an industry, we bring in the innovation, the new medicine to help patients improve with the specific diseases, but it also takes the health care professionals to diagnose these patients; it also takes the voice of the patients, the ones who would benefit from the treatment, and the government’s resources are much broader and bigger versus the private sector,” Tolosa said.
Dr. Josefina Isidro-Lapeña, president of the Philippine Academy of Family Physicians, said behavioral change is difficult to address.
LUNG HEALTH
A collaborative summit on Asthma COPD and Lung Cancer is held on Jan. 15, 2025. Those who spoke at the summit were Dr. Janeth Samson, PH president, College of Chest Physicians; Dr. Josefina Isidro-Lapena, president, PH Academy of Family Physicians; Dr. Chita Nazal-Matunog, PH Society of Medical Oncology president; Dr. Herdee Gloriane Luna – immediate past president, PH Society of Oncologists; Engr. Emer Rojas – Lung Health Alliance of the Philippines; and Cyril Tolosa, medical director, AstraZeneca PH. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
LUNG HEALTH
A collaborative summit on Asthma COPD and Lung Cancer is held on Jan. 15, 2025. Those who spoke at the summit were Dr. Janeth Samson, PH president, College of Chest Physicians; Dr. Josefina Isidro-Lapena, president, PH Academy of Family Physicians; Dr. Chita Nazal-Matunog, PH Society of Medical Oncology president; Dr. Herdee Gloriane Luna – immediate past president, PH Society of Oncologists; Engr. Emer Rojas – Lung Health Alliance of the Philippines; and Cyril Tolosa, medical director, AstraZeneca PH. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
LUNG HEALTH
A collaborative summit on Asthma COPD and Lung Cancer is held on Jan. 15, 2025. Those who spoke at the summit were Dr. Janeth Samson, PH president, College of Chest Physicians; Dr. Josefina Isidro-Lapena, president, PH Academy of Family Physicians; Dr. Chita Nazal-Matunog, PH Society of Medical Oncology president; Dr. Herdee Gloriane Luna – immediate past president, PH Society of Oncologists; Engr. Emer Rojas – Lung Health Alliance of the Philippines; and Cyril Tolosa, medical director, AstraZeneca PH. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
LUNG HEALTH
A collaborative summit on Asthma COPD and Lung Cancer is held on Jan. 15, 2025. Those who spoke at the summit were Dr. Janeth Samson, PH president, College of Chest Physicians; Dr. Josefina Isidro-Lapena, president, PH Academy of Family Physicians; Dr. Chita Nazal-Matunog, PH Society of Medical Oncology president; Dr. Herdee Gloriane Luna – immediate past president, PH Society of Oncologists; Engr. Emer Rojas – Lung Health Alliance of the Philippines; and Cyril Tolosa, medical director, AstraZeneca PH. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
LUNG HEALTH
A collaborative summit on Asthma COPD and Lung Cancer is held on Jan. 15, 2025. Those who spoke at the summit were Dr. Janeth Samson, PH president, College of Chest Physicians; Dr. Josefina Isidro-Lapena, president, PH Academy of Family Physicians; Dr. Chita Nazal-Matunog, PH Society of Medical Oncology president; Dr. Herdee Gloriane Luna – immediate past president, PH Society of Oncologists; Engr. Emer Rojas – Lung Health Alliance of the Philippines; and Cyril Tolosa, medical director, AstraZeneca PH. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
“Even if you address the behavior, if the settings do not change, it can cause frustration, so it has to be collaborative work; it has the work of the government to patients who are in need of … and what the doctors are asking for,” Isidro-Lapeña said.
Emer Rojas, a throat and lung cancer survivor and the head of the Lung Health Association of the Philippines (Lunghap), said that a “whole of society approach” to lung health, including collaboration with patient groups, is important to educate the masses about lung health.
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