Reducing the Global Impact of COPD to Create a Healthier Future

Bringing lung health to the forefront of aging well and mitigating the growing challenge of COPD.

Regeneron

August 24, 2026

When you think about aging well, what comes to mind? Probably things like a healthy heart, sharp mind, and strong bones. But what about the lungs? Unfortunately, they’re too often an afterthought.

This oversight is a problem because poor lung health can lead to serious respiratory conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The Growing Global Challenge of COPD

With COPD, people experience flare-ups (or exacerbations) that may lead to progressive, often irreversible, lung function decline. As it worsens, it can become harder for people to breathe and go about their daily activities. It also puts them at risk for other health problems, like cardiovascular disease and diabetes, compounding the impact.

While COPD has historically been thought of as a “smoker’s disease,” it is not limited to smokers; nearly half of all cases worldwide stem from non-tobacco-related factors, such as pollution, genetic factors and abnormal lung development. And with a rapidly aging global population, the challenge of COPD is expected to increase along with it, impacting healthcare systems and economies on a massive scale.

Despite being the fourth leading cause of death worldwide, COPD remains under-recognized and underprioritized. In the recent EU report on promoting healthy aging, respiratory health is not a key focus. And the global COPD Index — a unique data tool that assesses how countries approach preventing and managing COPD, supported by grant funding from Regeneron and Sanofi — found that 45% of the public could not correctly identify COPD as a lung condition. This lack of awareness can delay diagnosis and care, worsening the disease’s human and financial cost.

Building a Healthier Future by Prioritizing Our Lungs

To mitigate the widespread impacts of COPD, two key shifts are necessary. First, we need to prioritize respiratory health as a fundamental part of the healthy aging conversation. Regular lung assessments are not currently part of routine health visits for older adults, but they should be.

This simple step will not only help identify individuals who may be more vulnerable to developing respiratory conditions, but for people at risk of COPD, it can also help identify those who might have worse outcomes.

Second, we must work to better understand COPD. In 2024, COPD research received less than two percent of the funding that cancer received, according to the National Institutes of Health. There is enormous potential for discovery and improvements for patients and yet it is often deprioritized.

In September 2025, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a political declaration prioritizing prevention and response to chronic respiratory diseases, including COPD. With the tide starting to turn for COPD, it is crucial that we capitalize on this momentum as an elevated global public health priority to drive actionable implementation and real-world improvements in respiratory care.

"COPD is a notoriously challenging condition, where uncontrolled disease progressively reduces lung function, which can lead to hospitalizations, increasing the strain on people living with the disease and healthcare systems overall,” says Yamo Deniz, MD, Vice President, Global Medical Affairs, Head of Immunology & Inflammation at Regeneron. “Recent scientific advances in understanding the underlying biology of the disease may not only help people living with COPD breathe easier, but also reduce healthcare resource utilization.”

Prioritizing lung health can help reduce the development of serious chronic respiratory diseases like COPD and lessen the overall disease burden for older adults. At Regeneron, we are working with people living with COPD, global patient advocacy groups, including those that support the aging population on education and research, healthcare professionals, and other key stakeholders to clear the air on the condition. Together let’s lessen the global challenge of COPD by making lung function a main factor in the conversation on healthy aging.

References:

Global action on lung health has never been more important. World Economic Forum. Accessed July 15, 2026. https://www.weforum.org/stories/health-and-healthcare-systems/action-on-global-lung-health.
Global Strategy for the Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (2026). Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease. Accessed June 16, 2026 https://goldcopd.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/GOLD-REPORT-2026-v1.3-8Dec2025_WMV2.pdf.
Yang IA, et al. (2022). Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in never-smokers: risk factors, pathogenesis, and implications for prevention and treatment. Lancet Respir Med. 10(5):497-511. DOI: 10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00506-3.
Pham. HQ, et al. (2024) Economic Burden of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Systematic Review. Tuberc Respir Dis. 16;87(3):234-251. DOI: 10.4046/trd.2023.010.
GBD 2021 Causes of Death Collaborators. (2024). Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021. Lancet. 403(10440):2100-2132. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(24)00367-2.
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Funding for Various Research, Condition, and Disease Categories (RCDC). NIH Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC). National Institutes of Health. Accessed June 16, 2026. https://report.nih.gov/funding/categorical-spending.