Bronchiectasis is a chronic lung condition characterized by permanently widened, thickened, and scarred airways that trap mucus and foster recurrent bacterial infections, causing persistent cough, large amounts of sputum, breathlessness, and frequent exacerbations. It can follow pneumonia, tuberculosis, or other lung infections, or occur alongside conditions like cystic fibrosis, primary ciliary dyskinesia, or immune deficiencies.
What's actually going on in research
No drug is currently approved specifically for non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis, and management relies on airway clearance, antibiotics for exacerbations, and sometimes long-term low-dose macrolide antibiotics. Trials are now testing inhaled antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs including neutrophil elastase inhibitors, and mucoactive agents specifically designed for this condition. Disease-modifying approaches targeting the underlying lung immune dysfunction are an active area of development.
Inhaled antibiotics
Inhaled aztreonam, ciprofloxacin, and other antibiotic formulations are in trials to suppress dominant bacterial pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and reduce exacerbation frequency in chronically infected patients.
Anti-neutrophil elastase therapy
Brensocatib, an inhibitor of dipeptidyl peptidase 1 that reduces neutrophil-mediated airway damage, showed reduced exacerbations in a phase 3 trial and represents a potential first approved disease-modifying drug for bronchiectasis.
Mucoactive airway clearance
Novel mucolytic and mucokinetic agents including inhaled mannitol and hypertonic saline variants are being studied to improve mucus clearance and complement physical airway clearance techniques.
What to know before you search
Eligibility depends on sputum bacteriology, exacerbation frequency, lung function, and whether a specific underlying cause has been identified.
What types of trials are currently open
- Inhaled antibiotic trials — Testing antibiotic formulations delivered directly to the airways to suppress chronic bacterial infection.
- Anti-inflammatory trials — Evaluating neutrophil elastase inhibitors and other drugs targeting airway inflammation.
- Mucoactive therapy trials — Studying agents that improve mucus clearance and complement airway physiotherapy.
- Macrolide antibiotic trials — Refining long-term low-dose macrolide strategies for exacerbation prevention.
- Underlying cause trials — Treating specific causes such as primary ciliary dyskinesia or immune deficiency to reduce bronchiectasis progression.
Recently added Bronchiectasis trials
Share your breathing patterns and health experiences with researchers
Breathlessness is a complex symptom that results in poor quality of life, increased hospitalisations and increased mortality. Breathlessness is influenced by physiological, psychological and functional factors but these are poorly explored. There are also unexplored phenomenon's such as breathing pattern. Therefore, this study aims to understand the influences of physiology, psychology, function and breathing pattern on health related quality of life in those with a respiratory disease compared to healthy controls. This project is a cross-sectional cohort study including those with a known respiratory disease and experiencing breathlessness, compared to non-breathless healthy controls. The investigators will measure your physiology through spirometry (a breathing test that tells us about their lung function), psychology through questionnaires, function through an exercise test and breathing pattern using opto-electrictronic plethysmography (markers are placed on your chest to see how participants breathe while exercising). This will be conducted over two visits. The investigators will recruit participants from clinics at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. The investigators are aiming to recruit 50 participants with a respiratory disease and 25 healthy controls. The results of this study will help us understand breathlessness in more detail in order to be able to develop better treatments.
Hypertonic Saline Inhalation for Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Lung Disease
This multicenter randomized controlled trial evaluates the clinical and microbiological effects of inhaled 3% hypertonic saline in treatment-naïve patients with nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease (NTM-LD). Participants are randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either early initiation of 3% hypertonic saline for 6 months or delayed initiation consisting of normal saline inhalation during the first 3 months followed by 3% hypertonic saline during the subsequent 3 months. The primary objective is to compare respiratory symptom improvement between hypertonic saline and normal saline at Month 3. Secondary objectives include evaluating sputum microbiological outcomes, radiographic changes, inflammatory markers, small airway function, treatment initiation, safety, and within-participant changes before and after switching from normal saline to hypertonic saline in the delayed-initiation arm. The first participant was enrolled on October 3, 2025.
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