Study suggests patient denial is main reason for noncompliance among asthmatics

WALTHAM, Mass. Decision Resources, a research and advisory firm, has found that 76 percent of pulmonologists, 77 percent of allergists and 82 percent of primary care physicians believe that patient denial is the primary reason asthma patients do not fill a prescription after diagnosis.

According to the new report entitled Treatment Algorithms in Asthma, patient-level claims data shows that only 56.6 percent of patients move to prescription drug therapy within 360 days after being diagnosed with asthma.

The report also finds that as compared to one year ago, Merck/Kyorin’s asthma drug Singulair has posted large gains in second-line patient share, from 18.3 percent to 20.2 percent. “Singulair’s gain is even all the more impressive since all other maintenance therapies have lost share at second-line,” said Michael Malecki, analyst at Decision Resources. “We believe that Singulair’s benign side effect profile attributed to its second-line growth.”

On the other hand, the market leader Advair, by GlaxoSmithKline, is facing new competition from AstraZeneca’s Symbicort, according to the report.