OREANDA-NEWS. New data just published in a leading medical journal shows for the first time that the rate of treatment persistence for patients using the innovative Sandoz AirFluSal Forspiro respiratory inhaler is more than twice as high as for the reference product. 

Persistence to treatment is defined as the duration of time from initiation to discontinuation of treatment [1]. Dr. Bruce Bender, the lead author on the paper, said: "COPD and asthma are long term diseases requiring long-term, persistent adherence to therapy. While adherence has been widely studied to date, a growing awareness of the large number of patients who abandon their asthma treatment suggests that persistence to treatment may be more relevant for longer-term outcomes." 

Poor persistence to treatment rates are likely to result in poor outcomes including disease exacerbations, reduced quality of life, hospitalization, increased mortality, increased burden on the healthcare system and high economic costs [2],[3],[4]. Relatively few studies have investigated persistence in patients taking inhaled therapies, but those that have report sub-optimal rates in these patients [5],[6],[7].

The results are reported in the latest edition of the leading Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. The comparative analysis study is the largest European Real-World Evidence (RWE) study ever conducted in asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).

The study, entitled "Comparative analysis of persistence to treatment among patients with asthma or COPD receiving AirFluSal® Forspiro® or Seretide® Diskus® salmeterol / fluticasone propionate combination therapy", concluded that patients using the Sandoz device showed a persistence rate of 22.9%, compared to 10.5% for those using the reference product device.

"These results fully validate our decision at Sandoz to develop our inhaler device in close collaboration with patients, incorporating their feedback", said Dr. Spencer Jones, Sandoz Head of Global Medical Affairs, Respiratory. "This approach, which results in the device being effectively designed to give direct feedback to users, is the key to success in treating chronic conditions."

He added: "What the data also highlight is the need for even more research to better understand patient persistence behaviors and to develop strategies to address what are still unacceptably low overall levels."

The study was designed to retrospectively analyze persistence rates between the two devices, using dispensing data from a large German pharmacy database.  While retrospective database analyses have some limitations, the strengths of this data include the fact that 11,744 patients were included in a matched pair analysis, controlled for gender, age and month of treatment initiation (to limit seasonal effects).

All patients were first time users of salmeterol/fluticasone propionate and persistence to treat was analyzed for a 12 month period.

About AirFluSal Forspiro
AirFluSal Forspiro offers the proven combination of salmeteroland fluticasone propionate (an inhaled corticosteroid) in an innovative device. Safety, efficacy and equivalence have been proven in multiple clinical trials.

It was developed at Aeropharm GmbH in Rudolstadt, Germany, Sandoz's global respiratory Center of Excellence. Sandoz collaborated with UK-based Vectura Group plc, a respiratory product development company, in the design and development of the product. The innovative and intuitive-to-use inhaler was invented at Vectura and its design was awarded the Red Dot Product Design award in 2011, an internationally recognized quality seal awarded by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen, Germany.

In order to improve patient experience with inhalation devices, Sandoz and Vectura collaborated closely with patients during the development process. The device includes multiple feedback mechanisms such as visual control features, which help reassure the patient about dosing and a simple lever arm to load the dose.

AirFluSal Forspiro has been launched to date in approximately 30 countries, in Europe and elsewhere.