SOS offers patient support to improve Xenical compliance

In a move to improve patient compliance for its antiobesity drug Xenical, Roche is the first pharmaceutical company to use a new patient support service offered in the UK by International SOS, the world's largest medical and security assistance company. Following success with a similar scheme in Australia and New Zealand, Roche decided to extend the concept into the UK as often GPs prescribe Xenical without any advice on diet and lifestyle changes that are necessary to gain optimum benefit from the treatment.

When a patient is prescribed Xenical by the doctor, he or she is now offered the opportunity to enrol in the patient support programme, which gives access to a trained medical advisor with knowledge of the drug. Once the patient has registered, he or she is free to contact the service at will; similarly the call centre will contact the patient at regular, pre-agreed intervals to check on progress, establishing a two-way stream of contact between the patient and the support team.

'Our patient support programme directly addresses the many issues surrounding compliance,' said Alan Blaskett, group marketing director for patient compliance at International SOS. 'Once the patient has chosen to enrol, our healthcare professionals are able to contact them at key points during their treatment regime to provide them with the guidance and reassurance they need.'

Patients enrolled in the scheme generally report more favourable experiences with the drug and a better outcome. This is reflected in a very low drop-out rate, according to Kate Reid, Roche's senior product manager for Xenical. The average length of treatment is 3.4 months, but 64% are still on the drug at six months and around 50% at eight months. Treatment duration generally doubles when patient support is offered, Roche says.

This in turn enhances Xenical's reputation among health professionals, increasing the number of patients using the product and raising the level of repeat prescriptions. There are also longer-term benefits for the UK health services - successful treatment for obesity reduces the burden on the NHS for obesity-related conditions.

International SOS believes that the patient support programme can be applied to a wide range of medical conditions, including smoking cessation, cardiovascular conditions, diabetes and HIV. 'We hope that the success of this programme signals the beginning of a new era where patient support can be applied to other conditions and provide individuals and the healthcare service with similar benefits,' said Reid. 'What we must do now is build awareness that the service is available.'