The June 2026 pulmonology month largely tracked new conversations and data from the 2026 American Thoracic Society (ATS) International Conference and the Association of Pulmonary Advanced Practice Providers (APAPP) National Conference, covering severe asthma, interstitial lung disease, and airway-disease management, alongside a long-anticipated regulatory decision in smoking cessation. In severe asthma, expanded phase 4 PASSAGE data presented at ATS showed that tezepelumab reduced annualized exacerbation rates by 70% (95% CI, 63 to 75) in a real-world cohort intentionally enriched for patients underrepresented in pivotal trials, including those with comorbid COPD, current or former smokers, and Black or African American patients, with consistent benefit across phenotypes and meaningful gains in lung function and quality-of-life measures. A separate ATS analysis drawn from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study linked long-term insulin resistance to quantitative increases in interstitial lung disease on CT, with each doubling in time-weighted insulin resistance associated with a 1.58% greater percentage of lung involvement, an effect driven primarily by ground glass opacity rather than established fibrosis and independent of HIV or diabetes status.
