Janssen launches drug reminder service ‘Care4Today’
pharmafile | July 26, 2012 | News story | Medical Communications | Care4Today, Janssen, digital
Janssen has launched a new digital service designed to help patients remember to take their medication.
Care4Today Mobile Adherence is a messaging platform, mobile application and website to improve adherence to treatment regimens through reminders to take medications, refill prescriptions, and visit healthcare providers.
It has been designed and launched by ‘Janssen Healthcare Innovation’ – a specialist team within the firm. The Care4Today service works with almost any smartphone, regardless of platform or service provider: including iPhone, BlackBerry and Android devices.
It is designed for any kind of prescription or OTC medication or nutritional supplement, including – but not limited to – Janssen’s products.
By doing this, it has opened itself up to a larger market but will still be able to carry its name on the app, which is a good marketing tool for Janssen as it will be patients using the service.
It has also spent much time on making sure the service is secure by making all accounts password protected, and the firm states that it will not have any access to users’ identities.
Studies have shown that text message reminders effectively improve medication adherence for some patients. The Care4Today service uses a two-way messaging service on smartphones to remind patients to use the medications they have entered.
Each self-directed reminder message requires a response that is recorded in the user’s adherence record – this is then stored on the privacy-protected www.care4today.com website.
Users can monitor their adherence record or print it to share with their doctor if they so wish.
“Janssen Healthcare Innovation is developing products and services to transform the patient experience and promote better health outcomes. We have identified improving medication adherence as one of our key initiatives,” said Diego Miralles head of Janssen Healthcare Innovation.
“The Care4Today Mobile Adherence platform can help overcome the number one barrier to consumers taking their medications by providing customised reminders delivered via secure messaging directly to their cell phone, a device that most people carry with them at all times.”
Patients tend to forget
Janssen cites a number of studies that show up to 50% of patients in the US don’t take their medications as prescribed.
There are a variety of reasons why people don’t take their medication, but the number one reason cited is that they simply forget.
Janssen says that medication non-adherence contributes to around 3.5 million hospitalisations and 125,000 deaths annually in the US, costing an estimated $290 billion in avoidable medical spending.
There are already a number of free and paid-for apps that help with medical adherence that are not from the pharma industry.
These include MedCoach, RxmindMe, and HealthPrize, which are all available on iTunes.
Ben Adams is the reporter for Pharmafocus and InPharm.com and author of the DigiBlog site. He can be contacted via: email or Twitter.
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