one-third to one-half of all patients do not take their medications  

The New York Times recently reported on patients receiving financial incentives to take their medications or to comply with prescribed treatments. For example, a program in Philadelphia allows people to win $10 or $100 each day they take their drug — a lottery using a computerized pillbox.

According to the article, one-third to one-half of all patients do not take their medications and one-fourth do not fill prescriptions at all, which adds up to more than $100 billion in healthcare costs each year.

I usually have very strong opinions, but with this topic I can see both sides.
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Shared stories are an effective way to encourage compliance with therapy, as Pam Todd noted in a recent post. And if the story taps into a national passion, like football, the opportunities for visibility and interest grow.

But not just any story will do. A personal story as part of a campaign to encourage compliance must incorporate three essential ingredients:
•    Acknowledge the difficulty
•    Model the behaviors
•    Demonstrate the benefits

Touchdowns for Diabetes from Eli Lilly does a great job of telling the story of Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler’s management of his recently diagnosed Type I diabetes. The series of short videos, also available on YouTube, successfully addresses each of the three essential components in an adherence campaign.
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Of the 3 billion medication prescriptions issued annually in the U.S., 12% are never picked up by the patient 

Of the 3 billion medication prescriptions issued annually in the U.S., 12% are never picked up by the patient and 40% are not taken correctly. This statistic is from a recent report, “Technologies for Optimizing Medication Use in Older Adults,” produced by the non-profit Center for Technology and Aging.

Another startling statistic: Medication non-adherence is responsible for up to 33%-69% of medication-related hospital admissions and 23% of all nursing home admissions. It’s clear that adherence programs are not only an opportunity for pharma marketers to sell more drugs, but to make a difference in the health of many patients and reduce healthcare costs.

This data is a powerful incentive for pharmaceutical companies to use technology to make an impact on the problem of medication adherence.
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