Persistency with Mesalamine Therapy: Long-Term Results in Patients Persistent with Therapy at Outset

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the long-term persistency (number of patients who keep taking prescribed medication over an extended period) of a patient population who had been identified as being persistent with their mesalamine therapy at the outset of treatment. Methods: Between March and September 2007, pharmacy database refill records* of patients filling a new prescription° for LIALDA® (Shire Pharmaceuticals Inc., USA), ASACOL® (Procter & Gamble, USA), PENTASA® (250 or 500mg; Shire Pharmaceuticals Inc., USA), DIPENTUM® (UCB, USA) or balsalazide (combined results from generic balsalazide disodium and COLAZAL® [Salix Pharmaceuticals Inc., USA]), were followed. Those patients who refilled their prescription within a time frame of up to double the duration of their prescription were defined as ‘continuing’. Patients who had refilled their prescription after this time were defined as ‘restarting’. Refill records for patients who were considered persistent over the initial 3 months of treatment were analyzed at 12 and 18 months. Results: In total, 19,398 patients were identified as ‘continuing’ after 3 months of therapy and were included in this analysis. The persistency rates for ‘continuing’ as well as ‘continuing’ and ‘restart’ patients are shown below for 12 and 18 months after the initiation of treatment. Conclusion: Among patients who were persistent from the start of a new course of treatment, the rate of persistency at 12 and 18 months was highest in patients receiving LIALDA compared with the other formulations. These findings may be explained by once-daily dosing, lower pill burden or patient satisfaction (i.e. feeling better) with LIALDA. *Data owned and analyzed by SDI. †All pharmacy records were included independent of diagnosis. This research was funded by Shire Pharmaceuticals Inc., Wayne, Pennsylvania, USA. Disclosure: Dr S Kane - Consultant, Shire Pharmaceuticals Inc Dr M Sumner - Employee, Shire Pharmaceuticals Inc Dr D Solomon - Employee, Shire Pharmaceuticals Inc Mr M Jenkins - Employee, Shire Pharmaceuticals Inc. This research was supported by an industry grant from Funded by Shire Pharmaceuticals Inc.Table