CAPNETZ network of competence, foundation, study
3 activities – one goal: no chance for CAP
The purpose of the foundation CAPNETZ STIFTUNG (CAP, community-acquired pneumonia) is to advance academic research on community-acquired pneumonia and other lower respiratory tract infections. Through the CAPNETZ databases and networks fundamental, microbiological, and clinical research are facilitated to investigate prevention, diagnostics and therapy management on CAP.
DGP Congress meeting
At the 65th Congress of the German Respiratory Society (DGP) in Leipzig, a total of 310 scientific abstracts were submitted this year. Among them, five posters featuring data from CAPNETZ network-supported studies were presented — kudos to all presenters and participants!
Special congratulations go to Dr. Christopher Alexander Hinze from Hannover, who won 3rd prize in the 2025 DGP Poster Award. He presented the poster titled “Epidemiologie, klinischer Verlauf und Komplikationen einer RSV-Infektion bei Erwachsenen ab 60 Jahren im ambulanten Bereich in Deutschland”, based on data from the BUCOSS Study. The BUCOSS study was designed and conducted by CAPNETZ STIFTUNG, with funding support from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) as industrial partner.
Additionally, data from the BUCOSS-Hosp Study were presented as a poster by Frank Eberhardt (CAPNETZ STIFTUNG, Hannover).
Frank Eberhardt and Natalia Strauch serve as project managers for both the BUCOSS and BUCOSS-Hosp studies. Their dedication, along with the valuable contributions of the committed clinicians and investigators, clinical site staff, study personnel, the GSK team, and the CAPNETZ STIFTUNG management, has been instrumental in the success of these projects.
COMPETENCE NETWORK
The competence network CAPNETZ was established in 2001 by the German ministry of education and research (BMBF, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung) and has been expanding ever since. Physicians and researchers in Germany and Europe take part in this interdisciplinary collaboration towards new knowledge and inquiries on CAP and other acute respiratory infections. Improvements in disease management and better outcomes for patients and the healthcare system are brought about by the transfer of knowledge into medical practice.
CAPNETZ STUDY
The CAPNETZ study is a prospective multi-central observational study on community-acquired pneumonia. After two decades of patient recruitments the CAPNETZ study encompasses comprehensive data and biomaterials of over 14 000 CAP patients. These data and biomaterials form the basis for downstream research questions and constitute informative value for the national S3 guideline on CAP covering epidemiology, diagnosis, therapy and management of the disease.
RESEARCH FUNDING
The CAPNETZ STIFTUNG acts as a foundation which supports clinical and fundamental research as well as applied biomedical research on community-acquired pneumonia and other infections of the lower respiratory tract. Furthermore, every form of observational as well as clinical study (prevention, vaccination, diagnostic and therapeutic studies) can be conducted using the well established study project infrastructure of the foundation.
Interested researchers can formally request access to patient data and biomaterials, or collaborate with CAPNETZ STIFTUNG in implementation and data management of novel study projects.
The CAPNETZ STIFTUNG is associated partner of the German centre for lung research (DZL). The DZL was founded in 2011 as one of six German national centres for health research which are carried by BMBF and the federal state they are located in. Within the multi-disciplinary collaborative framework of the DZL innovative therapies and solutions for lung diseases are developed by leading researchers and physicians. As part of this collaborative effort CAPNETZ STIFTUNG contributes and receives support in terms of research and study infrastructure and public funding.