According to the distributed data of a recent study*, over 40% of people with a chronic disease do not follow their doctor’s directions. And the COVID-19 pandemic has raised the barriers to adherence with pharmaceutical treatment.
Non-adherence, especially for patients with chronic or recurring conditions, is what causes a large share of relapses, to the extent that it is a powerful predictor of how effective the treatment will be. This is to say that the more likely it is that the patient will comply with the prescribed treatment, the more likely it is that the treatment will be successful.
The strategy for improving adherence is giving people drugs that are increasingly tailored to their needs, along the lines of personalised or precision medicine. Having “pharmaceuticals in their best form” - i.e., forms that improve the absorption of the active principle and optimise how the medicine is taken - maximises their effect and helps patients manage their treatment on their own, with the indirect effect of improving adherence.
This is IBSA’s calling and its portfolio includes various pharmaceutical forms that achieve this, from soft capsules to solutions administered via syringe.
In this way, making pharmaceuticals in their best form means working to help patients properly follow their treatment protocols. For example, IBSA has developed soft capsules and thin-film drug delivery solutions for rapid absorption to improve adherence. Moreover, many people have trouble swallowing pills, which limits their ability to comply with protocols that require them to take pills and tablets. Over the years, this has led IBSA to perfect its soft capsules and then its thin-film strips, patented as IBSA FilmTec™, the latest discovery in pharma technology.
“We devote all our efforts every day to developing and producing innovative products and we are convinced that our pharmaceutical research reflects our desire to never stop moving forward, but to continuously evolve, innovate and blaze new trails”, remarked Tiziano Fossati, Head of R&D Pharmaceutical of IBSA Group.
*Pharmaphorum. COVID-19 accelerates non-adherence and magnifies health inequalities.