Originally published May 14, 2026 · Updated Aug 4, 2026.
Digital measurement is increasingly used in respiratory drug development, but the field remains fragmented. Across indications, similar symptoms are often measured using different definitions, methods, and technologies, limiting comparability and slowing regulatory confidence. The DEEP Respiratory Mission brings together pharmaceutical sponsors, technology providers, clinicians, researchers, and other experts to build a shared, device-agnostic foundation for respiratory digital measurement.
People living with respiratory diseases often experience overlapping symptoms, including cough, dyspnea, fatigue, reduced physical function, and exacerbations. Yet measurement approaches have often developed in disease-specific silos, creating inconsistent evidence and duplicated effort across sponsors.
The opportunity is to harmonize the field: define what matters, align on how it should be measured, and create reusable standards that can support future digital endpoint development.
This pre-competitive mission will establish a shared respiratory measurement framework spanning IPF, PPF, asthma, COPD, and non-CF bronchiectasis. The mission will focus on five core domains: cough, dyspnea, physical function, fatigue, and exacerbations.
Together, participants will create harmonized measurement definitions and device-agnostic Target Solution Profiles that can be reused across indications, assets, and digital modalities.
Through a structured process on the DEEP platform, the mission will:
Conduct targeted literature review to identify patient-relevant Meaningful Aspects of Health, Concepts of Interest, and outcome measures across respiratory disease.
Develop disease-specific and cross-indication conceptual models across the five priority domains.
Create harmonized measurement definitions and device-agnostic Target Solution Profiles.
Landscape and benchmark digital measurement solutions against those profiles.
Optionally seek patient, KOL, and regulatory (FDA and EMA) feedback, depending on consortium scope and budget.
For sponsors: reduces duplicated foundational work and creates outputs that can be inherited into private, asset-specific programs.
For the industry: enables greater consistency, comparability, and collaboration across respiratory research.
For regulators and HTA bodies: supports clearer dialogue through standardized concepts and evidence-generation approaches.
For patients: promotes more meaningful outcomes that better reflect the daily burden of respiratory disease.
DEEP invites pharmaceutical companies, technology partners, academic institutions, clinical experts, and patient-centered research organizations to help shape this shared measurement foundation. Participation may include funding, technical expertise, prior evidence, technology insight, or contribution to workshops and strategic discussions.
By working together, we can build once and reuse the work many times: accelerating the development of regulatory-ready digital measures across respiratory disease while allowing each sponsor to privately refine outputs for its own programs and contexts of use.
Contact us to learn more about becoming a sponsor or technology partner.
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