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From November 2014 to November 2015, an experiment in French community pharmacies replaced traditional pre-packed boxes by per-unit dispensing of pills in the exact numbers prescribed, for 14 antibiotics. A cluster randomised control trial was carried out in 100 pharmacies. 75 pharmacies counted out the medication by units (experimental group), the other 25 providing the treatment in the existing pharmaceutical company boxes (control group). Data on patients under the two arms were compared to assess the environmental, economic and health effects of this change in drug dispensing. In particular, adherence was measured indirectly by comparing the number of pills left at the end of the prescribed treatment. Out of the 1185 patients included during 3 sessions of 4 consecutive weeks each, 907 patients experimented the personalized delivery and 278 were assigned to the control group, consistent with a 1/3 randomization-rate at the pharmacy level. 80% of eligible patients approved of the per-unit dispensing of their treatment. The initial packaging of the drugs did not match with the prescription in 60% of cases and per-unit dispensing reduced by 10% the number of pills supplied. 13.1% of patients declared that they threw away pills residuals instead of recycling-no differences between groups. Finally, per-unit dispensing appeared to improve adherence to antibiotic treatment (marginal effect 0.21, IC 95, 0.14-0.28). Supplying antibiotics per unit is not only beneficial in terms of a reduced number of pills to reimburse or for the environment (less pills wasted and non-recycled), but also has a positive and unexpected impact on adherence to treatment, and thus on both individual and public health.

Background Presumably bundling/co-packaging of zinc with ORS encourages the combined use of the products for diarrhea treatment; however, empirical evidences are scarce. The purpose of this work is to evaluate whether co-packing using a plastic pouch can enhance the joint adherence to the treatment or not. The study also compares the cost effectiveness (CE) of two co-packaging options: ‘central’ and ‘health center (HC)’ level bundling. Methods This cluster-randomised controlled trial was conducted in 2015 in eight districts of Ethiopia. Thirty two HCs were randomly assigned to one of the following four intervention arms: (i) ‘Central bundling’ (zinc and ORS bundled using a pouch that had instructional message, distributed to HCs); (ii) ‘HC level bundling’ (zinc, ORS and a similar pouch distributed to the HCs and bundled by health workers); (iii) ‘Bundling without message’ (zinc, ORS and plain pouch distributed and bundled by the health workers); and, (iv) ‘Status quo’ (zinc and ORS co-administered without bundling). In each of the four arms, 176 children 6–59 months of age, presented with acute diarrhea were enrolled. Twelve days after enrollment, level of adherence was assessed. A composite scale of adherence was developed and modeled using mixed effects linear regression analysis. The unit costs associated with the arms were estimated using secondary data sources. Incremental CE analysis was made by taking the cost and level of adherence in fourth arm as a base value. Results The follow-up rate was 95.6 %. As compared with the ‘status quo’ arm, the joint adherences in the ‘central’ and ‘HC level’ bundling arms raised substantially by 14.8 and 15.7 percentage points (PP), respectively ( P  < 0.05). No significant difference was observed between ‘bundling without message’ and the ‘status quo’ arms. The unit cost incurred by the ‘central bundling’ is relatively higher (USD 0.658/episode) as compared with the ‘HC level bundling’ approach (USD 0.608/episode). The incremental CE ratio in the ‘central bundling’ modality was two times higher than in the ‘HC based bundling’ approach. Conclusion Bundling zinc with ORS using a pouch with instructional messages increases adherence to the treatment. ‘HC level bundling’ is more CE than the ‘central bundling’ approach.

BackgroundPlain packaging and minimum pack size legislation for tobacco products was introduced in the UK in May 2016, with a 1-year sell-off period until May 2017, during which both fully branded and plain packs of various sizes were legally available. This study investigates trends in prices of roll-your-own tobacco (RYO) before, during and after implementation of this legislation, and compares trends with those observed in the cigarette market.MethodsWe used Nielsen Scantrack data for the period from March 2013 to June 2018 to describe trends in UK inflation-adjusted prices and volumes of both RYO and cigarettes, and linear regression to estimate changes in prices associated with the introduction of plain packaging and the minimum pack sizes of 30 g RYO and 20 cigarettes.ResultsIn contrast to a downward trend in cigarette sales volumes, RYO volumes rose throughout the study period. By the time plain packs accounted for 75% or more of sales, the average price of products sold in equivalent pack sizes had increased, relative to average prices in the year before implementation and with adjustment for tax changes, from 34.9 to 38.8 pence per gram for RYO (mean difference 4.26, 95% CI 3.99 to 4.53 pence, 12% increase), and from 38.6 to 41.13 pence for cigarettes (mean difference 2.53, 95% CI 2.24 to 2.83 pence, 7% increase) per cigarette.ConclusionsNew legislation resulted in higher prices for RYO and manufactured cigarettes. However, sales volumes of RYO continued to increase throughout the study period, perhaps because RYO remains a less expensive means of smoking tobacco.

Medication nonadherence is prevalent among patients taking acute and/or chronic medications. It has been associated with poorer health outcomes, increased mortality, and higher costs for payers and the health care system. Numerous factors contribute to medication nonadherence, with forgetfulness being the primary reason. Payers have a vested interest in improving patient adherence to medications to mitigate overall health care costs by enhancing disease management, and they typically offer programs and initiatives aimed at improving medication adherence. One intervention that has had success in improving medication adherence and patient outcomes across a variety of disease states is putting patients' medications in blister packs. Although there is decades' worth of evidence demonstrating the success of blister packaging, utilization outside of the long-term care setting in the US is limited, likely due to the fragmentation of the health care system. Even though putting medications in blister packs has the potential to improve outcomes, pharmacies are the institutions that would have to implement this initiative while not seeing the financial savings from the reduced health care costs. Although it may improve their patients' outcomes, they would not be capturing the cost savings required to implement a potential new workflow and/or offset additive costs. Therefore, payers should consider incentivizing pharmacies to put medications in blister packs. Because payers would realize cost savings from the reduction in health care costs, they could reinvest some of that money toward blister packaging at their pharmacies and/or provide preferred contracting and network status for independent pharmacies that blister-package medications to help improve their population's health.

Comprehensive data are needed to prevent substandard and falsified (SF) medicines as they pose a major risk to human health. To assess the quality of selected medicines, samples were collected from random private drug outlets of Dhaka North and South City Corporation, Bangladesh. Sample analysis included visual observation of the packaging, authenticity of the samples, legitimacy and registration verification of the manufacturer, physicochemical analysis, and price. Chemical analysis of the samples was performed using a portable Raman spectroscopy and high-performance liquid chromatography according to the pharmacopoeia. Several discrepancies were noted in the visual observation of samples. Among the 189 collected samples of esomeprazole (ESM), cefixime (CFIX), and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (CVA-AMPC), 21.2% were confirmed to be authentic, 91.3% manufacturers were confirmed legitimate, and 2.1% of all samples were unregistered. Chemical analysis of the samples revealed that 9.5% (95% CI 5.7–14.6) of samples were SFs. Falsified samples and quality variation in the same generic branded samples were both detected by Raman spectroscopic analysis. Overall, sample prices were satisfactory relative to the international reference price. This study documents the availability of poor-quality medicines, demonstrating the need for immediate attention by the national medicine regulatory authority.

ObjectivesPrefilled syringes (PFS) may offer clinical and economic advantages over conventional parenteral medication delivery methods (vials and ampoules). The benefits of converting from vials and ampoules to PFS have been explained in previous drug-specific economic models; however, these models have limited generalisability to different drugs, healthcare settings and other countries. Our study aims to (1) present a comprehensive economic model to assess the impact of switching from vials to PFS delivery; and (2) illustrate through two case studies the model’s utility by highlighting important features of shifting from vials to PFS.MethodsThe economic model estimates the potential benefit of switching to PFS associated with four key outcomes: preventable adverse drug events (pADE), preparation time, unused drugs, and cost of supplies. Model reference values were derived from existing peer-reviewed literature sources. The user inputs specific information related to the department, drug, and dose of interest and can change reference values. Two hypothetical case studies are presented to showcase model utility. The first concerns a cardiac intensive care unit in the United Kingdom administering 30 doses of 1 mg/10 mL atropine/day. The second concerns a coronavirus (COVID-19) intensive care unit in France that administers 30 doses of 10 mg/25 mL ephedrine/day.ResultsTotal cost savings per hospital per year, associated with reductions in pADEs, unused drugs, drug cost and cost of supplies were £34 829 for the atropine example and €104 570 for the ephedrine example. Annual preparation time decreased by 371 and 234 hours in the atropine and ephedrine examples, respectively.ConclusionsThe model provides a generalisable framework with customisable inputs, giving hospitals a comprehensive view of the clinical and economic value of adopting PFS. Despite increased costs per dose with PFS, the hypothetical case studies showed notable reductions in medication preparation time and a net budget savings owing to fewer pADEs and reduced drug wastage.

ObjectiveAt least four varieties of little filtered cigars (LFCs) violate the US prohibition on flavoured cigarettes other than menthol. This study characterises the sales of prohibited products and other LFCs by flavour category and pack size, as well as the price of LFCs relative to cigarettes.MethodsUsing retail sales data for 2016, we computed the sales volume in dollars and equivalent units and the percentage of total sales by flavour and pack size for the USA by region and state. Paired t-tests compared the prices for LFCs and cigarettes sold in same-sized packs and cartons.ResultsLFC sales totalled 24 033 equivalent units per 100 000 persons in 2016. Flavoured LFC varieties accounted for almost half (47.5%) of the total sales. LFCs were sold in 12 different pack sizes, but 79.7% of sales were packs of 20. The price of 20-packs averaged $2.41 (SD=$1.49), which was significantly less than cigarettes (M=$5.90, SD=$0.85). Regional differences suggest a greater proportion of menthol/mint LFCs and lower prices in the South than in other regions.ConclusionClassifying all LFCs as cigarettes would require that they be offered in a minimum package of 20, eliminate flavoured varieties other than menthol and increase prices through applicable state and local cigarette taxes.

Peter B Bach and colleagues call for an end to contradictory regulatory standards in the US that allow drug manufacturers to boost profits by producing single dose vials containing quantities that increase leftover drug

Other strategies to reduce expenditure are available to the drug industry. 2 To ensure patients receive the full prescribed drug dose, vials must contain some excess.

To identify cancer drugs amenable to strategies for reducing expenditure and avoiding drug wastage. Information was sourced from product information in 20 countries on parenteral cytotoxic agents, and cancer and noncancer monoclonal antibodies. Data were collected on vial sizes, overage, stability and presentation forms. Vial size availability varied significantly between countries, with often only single vial sizes for numerous medications. Overage was poorly reported. Stability data were inconsistent and variable between countries, with most drugs only having a 24 h expiry. Three cancer-indicated monoclonal antibodies, thought suitable for prefilled syringe administration, were only available as vials. Many expensive cancer drugs are suitable for global cost-reduction strategies. Collaboration is vital to affecting change and reducing expenditure.