Patient friendly pharmaceutical pack design

One of the most pressing challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry today is patient compliance – how to ensure the patient takes the right medicine at the right time in the right way.   Studies show that patient adherence (the extent to which a patient takes a medicine as prescribed) usually starts well but then falls away strongly over time, a worrying trend seen across almost all therapeutic areas.   After 12–18 months, adherence rates may drop to around 30%, even for disease areas with very low survival rates.

The impact of poor medication adherence is serious and costly to both patients and the healthcare system.   Consequences include medical complications, disease progression, hospitalizations, impaired quality of life and or even death.   With approximately 50% of patients not taking their medications as prescribed across diseases and health conditions, moving the needle even a little toward better adherence can make a big difference.

This paper aims to show how pharmaceutical packaging can have a significant impact on patient compliance and how the introduction of patient-friendly packs really can lead to improved adherence rates.