Pharma urged to tackle non-compliance

The pharma industry must act to combat patient non-compliance, which averages at 50 per cent for long-term conditions, such as HIV and arthritis, according to a Capgemini report.

The report estimates that patient non-adherence to prescribed medicine courses is responsible for 194,500 deaths per year in the EU and 131,400 deaths per year in the US. Nonadherence results in annual costs of close to €125bn in the EU and $300bn in the US.

Jean-Marc Neimetz, global leader of the life sciences practice Capgemini Consulting, said: "The pharmaceutical industry needs to address patient adherence in a more strategic and integrated part of its activities, which will be good for the patients and for the industry overall."

They need to design and deploy programmes targeted to the very specific patient situations and leverage both traditional and digital approaches to do so, added Thomas Forissier, a principal of the life sciences practice at Capgemini Consulting.

The report said that almost all chronic conditions face high rates of non-adherence and those with no visible symptoms, such as depression, have the lowest adherence rates. The problem even extends to oral formulation chemotherapy drugs, where there is less expectation to counter patient adherence issues due to the seriousness of the condition. As much as 40 per cent of cancer patients are non-adherent in this case.