Diabetes Roundtable panel deliberates on compliance, education, social media

NEW YORK —Nearly 24 million Americans live with diabetes, and some projections have shown the figure will nearly double over the next 25 years as the annual $113 billion cost of treating the disease nearly triples. But suppliers and retailers already have mobilized to address one of the country’s most serious public health issues.

Thirteen representatives of suppliers and retailers gathered Dec. 1 at Drug Store News’ 7th Annual Diabetes Roundtable at the New York Athletic Club, moderated by Hamacher Resource Group VP Dave Wendland, to discuss what they are doing to help patients prevent and manage the disease.

The rapid increase in the incidence of the disease, and the likelihood that it will increase in the future, was a major theme of the roundtable. “A third of us in here will be diagnosed with diabetes,” AmerisourceBergen Corp. national director of in-store pharmacy solutions Ceci Zeigler told attendees.

The economy has affected medication compliance among patients with a number of disease states, including diabetes, and costs and education have remained important factors in dealing with the disease. “We’re going to have to continue to be creative and innovative to address the cost and education barriers,” Novo Nordisk senior manager of trade operations Rachel Sosalski said.

Panelists also agreed that social media was a way of the future. “Right now, what we have is called ‘static messaging’—the typical, everyday product Web sites, a lot of good patient education,” Takeda Pharmaceuticals director of cross-brand and trade marketing Mike Caracci said. “But that’s not where the patient’s going right now. The patient is going to a place where they want to converse; they want to interact.”