Predicted demand for a drug delivery system for glaucoma medicine
Session Details
Session Title: Presented Poster Session: Glaucoma
Venue: Poster Village: Pod 2
First Author: : T.Wong SINGAPORE
Co Author(s): : E. Finkelstein S. Ozdemir R. Allingham
Abstract Details
Purpose:
Patient adherence to glaucoma medical regime is an important aspect of disease management. However, adherence is universally poor in glaucoma patients worldwide. New technologies are being developed in an attempt to address this by replacing the need for daily eyedrop administration in the hope to improve patient adherence rates. This study aims to estimate uptake for a new emerging health technology that delivers sustained release of glaucoma medication and investigates how uptake varies by product attributes, patient characteristics, peer influence, and physician recommendation.
Setting:
Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore
Duke NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore
Methods:
In a web-enabled discrete-choice experiment survey, 500 glaucoma patients in the US were asked to choose between taking eye drops or using an injectable drug delivery system (DDS) for delivering glaucoma medicine which was defined by interval between administrations, out-of-pocket cost, percentage of peers who have adopted the new technology and doctor’s recommendation. Additionally, 155 ophthalmologists were asked their likelihood of recommending a DDS as a function of both patient characteristics and product attributes. Results are then fed back into the patient model to estimate conditional patient demand.
Results:
9%(45/500) of subjects were early adopters of a DDS even at high prices, 20%(100/500) would not opt for DDS at any price and 71%(355/500) were traders. Traders would likely choose DDS if used by their peers (P=0.001) or recommended by their ophthalmologist (P=0.001). 53%(82/155) of ophthalmologists recommended a DDS if long-term safety and efficacy data were available. Recommendation of DDS was not influenced by the number of glaucoma eyedrops used (P > 0.10), but on non-adherence of patient. If requiring an invasive surgical procedure, ophthalmologists preferred the DDS to last 12 months.
Conclusions:
The results suggest there will be a significant demand for DDS as an alternative to eyedrops. Besides specific product attributes of the DDS, third party reimbursement, peer influence and ophthalmologist recommendations have a significant effect on the overall demand for a new drug delivery system for the medical treatment of glaucoma. Moreover, physician recommendation reveals that this variable is an important predictor of patient demand. It is important to incorporate physician recommendations in estimates of patient uptake. Future studies on technologies that are highly influenced by a physician’s recommendation could incorporate a similar approach.
Financial Disclosure:
has significant investment interest in a company producing, developing or supplying product or procedure presented
