SDI Reports

Study finds that patients taking cholesterol reducers were more likely to remain on prescribed therapy when they received four or more authorized refills per prescription

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SDI, the leader in innovative analytics for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, today announced the results of a new study to determine if patient adherence to therapy differed depending on the number of authorized refills per prescription.

For this study, SDI analysts looked at 4,522 high prescribers, who write 270 or more prescriptions per year in the lipid-lowering market, to determine the average number of authorized refills per prescription during a 12-month period. Then, by examining the anonymous patient-level data for each prescriber, SDI was able to understand the filling behavior of patients who received different numbers of authorized refills.

The study showed that prescribers who consistently wrote prescriptions with four or more authorized refills per prescription had patient populations that filled more scripts, on average, than those who authorized fewer refills or whose patients required a new prescription in order to obtain their medication. This suggests that prescribers may be able to influence patient adherence with something as simple as authorizing more refills when they write prescriptions.

This information has wide-ranging implications for patient adherence initiatives and pharmaceutical sales in general. As health outcomes are often linked to medication adherence over time, understanding the drivers of positive adherence is key to successful management of a host of chronic conditions. Using SDI’s anonymous patient- level data, pharmaceutical companies can now identify factors that may influence patient adherence and target prescribers in need of this relevant information.

About SDI

Since 1982, SDI has been delivering innovative healthcare data products and analytic services to the pharmaceutical, biotech, healthcare, medical device, financial services, and consumer packaged goods industries. SDI is the leading provider of de- identified patient-level data analytics and offers a broad array of solutions and insights across the continuum of care. These include custom and syndicated patient-level data studies; localized disease and treatment surveillance and projection; market research audits; healthcare profiles; comprehensive managed care offerings; clinical trial optimization; direct-to-patient pharmacy programs; marketing effectiveness; sales targeting and compensation products; data integration, warehousing, and mining; list services; and direct marketing services. Its current roster includes the top 50 pharmaceutical/biotech companies. For more information, visit www.sdihealth.com or call 610.834.0800.

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