Breath biomarkers can provide a predictive diagnosis for respiratory diseases, although they are a little way off from being available for clinical use, according to a recent systematic review published in Owlstone Medical Ltd. The research included 33 clinical studies related to lung cancer, 14 associated with COPD, and 10 with asthma and the remaining three focused on differentiating between multiple of these conditions based on detected volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The researchers wrote that selecting the right VOCs to use in a breath test for a given disease needs to be based on in-depth knowledge of the underlying biology associated with the disease such as conditions characterized by chronic inflammation, lung cancer, COPD and asthma.