Non-adherence to medication is not a new global healthcare concern but with more people living with long-term conditions the problem is increasing. A difficult problem to solve, this multifaceted phenomenon can have a variety of negative effects for society and for the individuals involved.
So why is non-adherence happening, what makes a person not take the drug, or take it incorrectly? Is it purely down to lack of understanding or motivation or is there something bigger going on? Historically when looking at how to address this challenge, the Life Science Industry has focussed primarily on product-centric solutions (e.g. adherence reminders), not necessarily patient-centred ones.
Lack of patient engagement across our industry appears to be fuelling the problem. The patient solutions of the future need to empower patients to engage with their disease, as more engaged patients are more likely to take their medicine as prescribed, adopt recommended lifestyle changes and achieve the improvement in outcome they deserve. To enable that to happen, patients and carers need to both define the need and co-create the right patient empowering solution.
Read the full report Empowered patients improve outcomes March 2018