Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
United States alone (National Council on Patient Information and Education
2007
),
more than the annual health costs of obesity. Hence, increasing therapy adherence
brings health benefits for patients, lower costs for payers, and increased patient
retention (and thus higher sales) for firms. Adherence programs are one of the rare
instances in pharmaceutical marketing in which the incentives of all stakeholders
are aligned and scholars and practitioners see these programs as a key research pri-
ority in pharmaceutical marketing (Stremersch and Van Dyck
2009
).
Several firms are already investing in adherence programs. In the latest edition of
CBI's strategic patient awards, which recognizes successful adherence programs,
winners included firms, like Merck, and pharmacy-sponsored organizations, like Rx
Canada, and payers, like Kaiser Permanente (Ringler
2011
). Adherence programs
can have at least three types of goals: (1)
information
-
provision
—educating patients
on the importance of adhering to physician recommendations, (2)
skills develop-
ment and facilitation
—helping patients correctly follow the therapy advice or
access to sufficient financial resources to follow the treatment plan, (3)
making
therapy adherence easier for patients
—motivational and monitoring programs
aimed at decreasing unintentional non-adherence, such as forgetfulness.
Most programs target multiple goals at the same time. Shire, for example, has
developed “Fosrenol on Track,” a comprehensive support program aimed at facili-
tating both patient education and patient access to financial resources, which helps
to guarantee that patients “stay on track” when taking Fosrenol.
14
Pfizer has a simi-
lar program called “Staying on Track” that is aimed at helping patients monitor and
adequately adhere to their therapeutic regimen (Stremersch and Van Dyck
2009
).
AstraZeneca also provides extensive support online for patients taking Symbicort, a
combination drug and inhaler for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
This is an important touch-point between the firm and its patients, which AstraZeneca
uses to empower patients with the knowledge they need to correctly use the
Symbicort inhaler and adhere to the prescription plan developed with their physi-
cian.
15
An example of a program that is aimed at reducing patient forgetfulness and
making adherence easier for patients is “SIMpill,” a pill bottle that keeps track of
the patient's medication schedule and uses text messaging to remind patients when
they forget to take their medication as prescribed
16
(see also Stremersch and Van
Dyck
2009
).
Despite the increasing number of adherence programs, many are not effective or
are too costly for the effects they are able to produce. Researchers from IMS Health
and Pfizer have analyzed all studies published between 1972 and 2007 on interven-
tions to improve adherence to lipid-lowering medications (for cardiovascular
diseases) and found that personalized, intensive, and multifaceted programs were
the most effective but the most costly (Chapman et al.
2010
). Reminder programs
were the least costly (about $10 per patient for a 6-month intervention) but the least
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