Shellpak Demonstrates Statistically Significant Improvement in Patient Medication Adherence

20 Jun 2011

6/20/2011 --- According to new data published in Clinical Therapeutics, the way a medication is packaged can have a significant impact on whether patients take it as prescribed. The study showed that Shellpak calendar blister packaging from MeadWestvaco Corp., a provider of pharmaceutical packaging solutions, was associated with improvement in prescription adherence behavior in patients when compared with traditional pill vials. According to the researchers, a Shellpak-based adherence strategy could provide a substantial cumulative public health benefit when broadly implemented over a large population.

Poor adherence to medication is a growing issue across the country. The New England Healthcare Institute estimates the current cost of drug-related morbidity, including poor adherence, to be as much as $290 billion annually in avoidable medical spending, 13% of total U.S. healthcare spending. Research also shows that half of all patients in the U.S. do not take their medicines as prescribed, a dismal level of adherence which has held steady over the past three decades. Poor adherence leads to worsening of disease, serious and avoidable health risks, increased hospitalizations and even death. Within the study, the use of Shellpak, a proprietary calendarized 30-day, unit-of-use medication package demonstrated improvement in the adjusted estimates of refill persistence and adherence as measured by length of therapy and proportion of days covered with medication.
“We know there are many factors affecting medication adherence, and we know that the most successful solutions will involve multiple components,” said study co-author Lenn Murrelle, MSPH, PhD, and principal founder of Venebio, a life sciences research consultancy. “What’s exciting about this study is that medication packaging alone was found to have a positive effect on medication refill behavior. This says to us that packaging without any additional communications or instructions to either pharmacists or patients can play an important role in helping patients take their medication as directed.”

The retrospective analysis used pharmacy dispensing data from Walmart for 3.1 million individuals filling prescriptions for the generic cardiovascular medications lisinopril or enalapril, either alone or in combination with hydrochlorothiazide. Results revealed the Shellpak refill persistence benefit was especially pronounced among certain subgroups.

- New medication users had an average length of therapy increase of 9 days over a year.

- Ongoing medication users had an average length of therapy increase of 5 days over a year.

Persons taking fixed-dose combination formulations, or 2 medications in a single tablet experienced an average 17-day increase in length of therapy for new users and 12 days for ongoing medication users. In addition, the study revealed that Shellpak users overall were more likely to reach “full refill adherence” – at least 80% of days covered with medication in a year – than vial users, with the greatest effect observed in new medication users. However, full refill adherence (PDC ≥ 80%) was more likely in Shellpak users regardless of their baseline level of adherence.

- PDC ≥ 80% was more likely reached by using Shellpak in those with the lowest level of baseline adherence, by 20% in new medication users and 23% in ongoing users.

- Individuals with a middle level of adherence at baseline had a 15% greater likelihood of reaching full adherence with Shellpak for new users and 8% for ongoing users.

- In the group with the highest level of baseline adherence, Shellpak users were 11% more likely to reach full adherence for new medication users and 5% for ongoing users.

“This publication is the first, large-scale pharmacoepidemiologic analysis of medication packaging, and the results are exciting and significant,” said Ted Lithgow, PhD, president and chief science officer, MWV Healthcare. “We believe smarter packaging serves a purpose beyond simply containing and protecting the physical integrity of a pharmaceutical, and this robust data provides compelling scientific evidence for Shellpak as a now-proven solution to help drive better patient adherence. We will continue to work with the medical, pharmacy and pharmaceutical communities, and regulators to consider these data and to further investigate the effects of packaging on medication adherence.”