Dr Horst discusses her research into differences in medication adherence among patients using subcutaneous biologics for IBD based on access to a specialty pharmacy.

Sara Horst, MD, is an associate professor and gastroenterologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. 

TRANSCRIPT:

Dr. Sara Horst:  Hi, I'm Sara Horst, a gastroenterologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. I'm excited to talk about our research that we presented this year at ACG.

We presented a poster looking at medication adherence in patients with inflammatory bowel disease when on subcutaneous biologics. We know that adherence is important, but understanding how patients are adherent or not and how it can impact clinical outcomes is largely unknown.

We looked at three centers with specialty pharmacies across the country, so a heterogeneous patient population as well as geographic location, and looked at medication possession ratio, which is an objective marker of medication adherence for these subcutaneous biologics.

We found that all three centers which had specialty pharmacies integrated into their medical centers had good adherence rates between 68 and 70%, which is a full 15% above previously reported national averages for medication adherence in this patient group.

That's really great. We also showed that nonadherence to these subcutaneous biologic medications increased the likelihood of an IBD-related hospitalization or an Emergency Department visit. Adherence matters. Showing that centers with integrated specialty pharmacies that has good adherence rates can impact clinical outcomes. Thanks.