Patients struggling to take conventional medicines
pharmafile | September 22, 2014 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | Spiegel Institut Mannheim, hermes pharma, medicines, swallowing
A new survey commissioned by Hermes Pharma, which develops easier-to-swallow pills, has found that more than half of those asked had difficulties swallowing tablets and that new drugs need to be personalised.
The study was conducted by Spiegel Institut Mannheim and targeted 1,000 people in both the US and Germany.
Key findings include:
- More than 55% of people suffer from swallowing difficulties when taking tablets or capsules – all age groups and genders are affected
- Conventional tablets and capsules show significant weaknesses compared to alternative solid dosage forms
- Swallowing difficulties are likely to have a negative impact on compliance
- Besides being easy to swallow, pharmaceutical products need to appeal to a wider range of personal needs in order to be effective.
Hermes Pharma says that to deliver medical and commercial success, pharmaceutical products will need to appeal to a wider range of preferences, from treatment needs through to lifestyle requirements.
The study ‘A Hard Truth to Swallow’ also found that conventional tablets and capsules exhibit a ‘range of drawbacks’ and may no longer be the best solution for large segments of the population.
Over half of the people surveyed (50% in the US and more than 60% in Germany) reported difficulties when swallowing tablets or capsules. Some 44% of participants 65-years or older were affected and an even greater number (70%) of younger people aged 16-34 also reported this problem.
A wide variety of reasons were cited, but the most frequent were related to tablets or capsules being too large to swallow, becoming stuck in the throat and having an unpleasant taste or odour.
In order to overcome these difficulties, participants had turned to breaking tablets before swallowing (32% overall) or crushing them up and dissolving them in water (17 per cent). This, Hermes points out, can affect the efficacy of the drug.
“By offering an active ingredient solely as a tablet or capsule, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies ignore the needs of more than 50% of their target audience,” says Dr Thomas Hein, director of business development and regulatory affairs at Hermes Pharma.
“Given the weaknesses exhibited by conventional tablets and capsules, there is a significant opportunity to capture market share by formulating user-friendly dosage forms.”
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