033 Don't Stop in the Name of Love

Abstract

Assess patient refill patterns in the treatment of vulvar and vaginal atrophy (VVA). Analysis of compliance metrics of prescriptions for 858,311 women who filled at least one prescription for VVA treatment was longitudinally tracked utilizing LifeLinkTM Longitudal LRx Prescription Data from IMS Health. The study period spanned 34 months (2013-2016), divided into the following: 1) cohort selection period (4-month period to select women who had either a new-to-therapy or continued prescription); 2) look-back period (18-month period preceding the prescription; 3) look-forward (observation) period (12-month period following the prescription used to evaluate adherence). Approximately 33% of women were new to therapy; the majority used Premarin® and Estrace® creams. While vaginal creams are the leaders for new prescriptions, ∼ 60% of women filled only their initial prescription. Women using vaginal ring, tablet, or the oral SERM (Osphena®) were likely to fill more than one prescription (65% vs ∼40% creams). The trend for multiple fills (5+) followed a similar pattern: ∼7% of women using vaginal estrogen creams, ∼22% of women using a vaginal ring or tablet, and 31% using the oral SERM. Overall, the average number of refills for all products is low, ranging from 2.0 (creams) to 3.9 for the SERM. Average time on therapy was: 369 days for creams, 560 and 604 days for tablet and ring, respectively, and 417 days for the SERM.