<p>Connected drug delivery devices to complement drug treatments: potential to facilitate disease management in home setting</p>

Abstract

Connected drug delivery devices are increasingly being developed to support patient supervision and counseling in home setting. Features may include dosing reminders, adherence trackers, tools for patient education, and patient diaries to collect patient-reported outcomes, as well as monitoring tools with interfaces between patients and health care professionals (HCPs). Five connected devices have been selected as the basis for a review of the clinical evidence concerning the impact of electronic tools on treatment adherence and efficacy outcomes. Disease areas covered include multiple sclerosis, diabetes, hypertension, liver and renal transplant recipients, tuberculosis, hepatitis C, clinically isolated syndrome, asthma, and COPD. From studies comparing the use of electronic feedback tools to standard of care, there is an initial evidence for a higher adherence to treatment and better outcomes among patients who use the electronic tools. To substantiate the assumption that connected devices can improve adherence in an outpatient setting over a prolonged period of time, further data from controlled randomized studies are required. Key barriers to the broader adoption of connected devices include data privacy laws that may prevent data sharing with HCPs in some countries, as well as the need to demonstrate that the tools are consistently used and generate a high-quality and reproducible database. If these challenges can be addressed in a way that is agreeable to all stakeholders, it is expected that the future value of connected devices will be to 1) facilitate and improve patient involvement in disease management in a flexible care setting, 2) enable early treatment decisions, and 3) complement value-based reimbursement models.

Payer Perspectives on Intravenous versus Subcutaneous Administration of Drugs

“…For instance, the Rebismart ® autoinjector (Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany) can send injection reminders to patients, log drug administration, and export and analyze data through its companion Mitra ® computer application (Merck Serono, Darmstadt, Germany). 21 , 22 Such devices may be leveraged for continuous monitoring and personalized education and messaging—all of which can improve patient adherence, safety, and outcomes—and can be utilized in conjunction with specialty pharmacy practices such as outbound calls and targeted messages. The recent changes in physician coding and billing for remote patient monitoring and telehealth incentivize this as well.…”

Digital Health Integration Assessment and Maturity of the United States Biopharmaceutical Industry: Forces Driving the Next Generation of Connected Autoinjectable Devices

“…Some companies have taken a further step by creating entire platforms for their devices, including daily predictive forecasts and integrated and streamlined communication with health care providers and support programs. Expanding beyond this includes integrated sensors and apps enabling drugs to aid in chronic disease management, which can collect a variety of data from general adherence to pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data that could better inform patients and their providers about usage behaviors to optimize drug adherence and treatment [9,42,43]. The next step will be fully connected DDCPs dispensed from the pharmacy, which has been seen with bioingestible sensors in oral medications and connected inhalers [44,45].…”

“…Digital health is already demonstrating potential when combined with DDCPs [9]. Autoinjectable devices have provided real-life benefits for patients in terms of drug self-administration, since their widespread adoption began 30 years ago with the rise of macromolecules for chronic conditions in the autoimmune space [10].…”

What kind of emphasis do we need in clinical research to enable personalised respiratory medicine?

“…Of note, connected devices can also provide feedback to the patient regarding the use of medications, which can in turn enable him/her to react more efficiently, favouring engagement and participation, as well as disease management [8]. The positive consequences of this opportunity need to be assessed rigorously.…”

“…Nicolas Roche 1,2 , Antonio Anzueto 2,3 , Sinthia Bosnic Anticevich 2,4 , Alan Kaplan 2,5 , Marc Miravitlles 2,6 , Dermot Ryan 2,7 , Joan B. Soriano 2,8 , Omar Usmani 2,9 , Nikos Papadopoulos 2,10,11 and G. Walter Canonica…”