(PHILADELPHIA and LONDON, January 14 ,2024). The formation of a new collaborative research group, the Breakthrough Consortium for Olfactory Health (BeCOH), offers hope for the millions of people globally affected by impairment of their sense of smell. The Consortium brings together charities, patient groups, research institutions, and clinicians, as well as pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies, with a common purpose: driving therapeutic and technical advances to ultimately bring benefit to those worldwide living with the life-changing impact of sensory impairments.
The BeCOH Steering Committee is co-chaired by Duncan Boak, CEO and founder of Fifth Sense and Valentina Parma, PhD, Assistant Director, Monell Chemical Senses Center, and includes Lisa Huang, PhD, Senior VP, Curie.Bio; Joshua Levy, MD, MPH, MS, Clinical Director, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD); Patricia Lucas-Schnarre, CEO, Ahersla Health, Inc.; Andy Mulvaney, PhD, Founder and CEO, RhinoTherapeuthics, Inc.; Zara Patel, MD, Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine; and Nancy Rawson, PhD, Monell Executive Vice President, to capture voices from patient-facing organizations, researchers, clinicians, government agencies, diagnostic, and pharmaceutical companies.
The benefits of smell to health and quality of life are often ignored until injury or disease compromises this function. In addition to the significant impact on both physical and mental health that smell disorders bring, loss of smell can be an early harbinger of a range of different health concerns, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.
The mission of BeCOH is to establish evidence-based clinical, regulatory, and access pathways to improve diagnosis and treatment for olfactory dysfunction. Testing of the sense of smell is not undertaken routinely, unlike sight and hearing, and is currently confined to a relatively small number of specialist clinics. What’s more, there are very few treatments for many of the causes of smell impairment and a lack of research for finding new ones.
Parma, Boak, and fellow Consortium members recognize that establishing a roadmap to implement testing and develop treatments for smell dysfunction requires a concerted, cross-sector effort to better serve those who live with smell disorders. “It is a challenge to move forward with such a proposition when many people are still unaware of the importance of the sense of smell to overall health and well-being,” said Parma.
“We need to work together to address what remains a significant and unmet public health need, even after the awareness generated by the Covid-19 pandemic, when so many suddenly lost their sense of smell,” said Boak. “By bringing together all stakeholders, the Consortium intends to be a catalyst for new research and developments and to engage with policymakers and encourage them to take action.”
At the US national level, both the 2023 – 2027 NIDCD Strategic Plan at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the “Healthy People 2030” initiative recognize the importance of normal smell and taste function for overall health. The NIDCD plan envisions a future where medical providers use routine smell testing as an early detection tool for neurodegenerative diseases. Healthy People 2030 has an explicit goal to increase the percentage of adults with taste and smell disorders who have seen a healthcare provider specifically for their disorder from 18.5 percent to 20.4 percent by 2030.
“We aim to make it clear to public health officials how to adopt universal smell testing as an important tool for health monitoring and preventive care,” said Parma. “We advocate for smell function to be recognized as an important element of disease prevention and management.”
Sensory, nutritional, psychological, and neurological consequences of smell dysfunction affect millions of diverse individuals. Measuring smell health over a lifetime can improve lives and reduce burdens on our care systems.
Connect with the Consortium and meet with them at the upcoming inaugural Town Hall to hear about their plan for progress and share your ideas by completing the contact form at: https://www.olfactoryhealthconsortium.org/. The Town Hall is scheduled for February 26, 2025 at 9 a.m. PST, 5 p.m. GMT and 12 p.m. EST.
About Monell Chemical Senses Center
The Monell Chemical Senses Center is an independent nonprofit research institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1968, with a mission to advance and share discoveries in the science of the chemical senses of smell, taste, chemesthesis, and interoception to solve the world’s health, societal, and environmental challenges.
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About Fifth Sense
Fifth Sense is the UK charity for people affected by smell and taste disorders. We provide direct support and information to people affected by these hidden, under-recognised sensory impairments and their families. The charity also works to improve knowledge and understanding amongst professionals through education and training and supports research to improve knowledge and understanding and accelerate the steps to treatments and potential cures.
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