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Article History

Received: 15 December 2015

Revised: 15 July 2016

Accepted: 9 August 2016

First Online: 17 November 2016

Competing interests

: BS has received honoraria for educational activities and lectures from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, MEDA, and TEVA, and has served on advisory boards arranged by AstraZeneca, Novartis, and Boehringer Ingelheim. KL has received honoraria for educational activities and lectures from AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, MEDA, and Takeda, and has served on advisory boards arranged by MEDA and Novartis. IT has received honoraria for educational activities and lectures or advisory boards from Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, AstraZeneca, and GlaxoSmithKline. DP has Board Membership with Aerocrine, Almirall, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, Meda, Mundipharma, Napp, Novartis, and Teva. Consultancy: Almirall, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, GlaxoSmithKline, Meda, Mundipharma, Napp, Novartis, Pfizer, Teva, and Zentiva; grants/grants pending with UK National Health Service, British Lung Foundation, Aerocrine, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Meda, Merck, Mundipharma, Novartis, Orion, Pfizer, Respiratory Effectiveness Group, Takeda, Teva, and Zentiva; payments for lectures/speaking: Almirall, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, Cipla, GlaxoSmithKline, Kyorin, Meda, Merck, Mundipharma, Novartis, Pfizer, SkyePharma, Takeda, and Teva; payment for manuscript preparation: Mundipharma and Teva; patents (planned, pending, or issued): AKL Ltd; payment for the development of educational materials: GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis; stock/stock options: shares in AKL Ltd that produces phytopharmaceuticals and owns 80% of Research in Real-Life, and its subsidiary social enterprise Optimum Patient Care; received payment for travel/accommodations/meeting expenses from Aerocrine, Boehringer Ingelheim, Mundipharma, Napp, Novartis, and Teva; funding for patient enrolment or completion of research: Almirall, Chiesi, Teva, and Zentiva; peer reviewer for grant committees: Medical Research Council (2014), Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programme (2012), HTA (2014); and received unrestricted funding for investigator-initiated studies from Aerocrine, AKL Ltd, Almirall, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, Meda, Mundipharma, Napp, Novartis, Orion, Takeda, Teva, and Zentiva. MR has received honoraria for educational activities and lectures or advisory boards from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, GlaxoSmithKline, Menarini, Mundipharma, Novartis, Rovi, and Teva. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.