Medisafe Demonstrates Multi-Month Adherence Lift in Study by IMS Health

Results show Medisafe users with hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes have significantly higher adherence than control group

BOSTON, MA — October 29, 2015. Medisafe, the leading mHealth platform for medication management with over 2.3 million users, announced today the results of a study conducted by IMS Health that showed that Medisafe users taking cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes medication had 10.7%, 5.4%, and 7.7% higher adherence respectively than a control group of non-users over a multi-month period.

“When patients don’t follow their prescribed medication regimen, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes often lead to more serious illness, most notably cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S., which accounts for 17% of our nation’s health costs,” said Jon Michaeli, Medisafe’s EVP Marketing and Business Development. “Persistence is critical with these chronic conditions – and particularly difficult to achieve with any behavior change – so we are thrilled to share these positive results.”

Study Rationale

Medisafe’s study focused on these three chronic conditions, due to:

• Their prevalence in the U.S. (and global) populations: Today, 73.5 million adults (31.7%) in the U.S. have high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or “bad” cholesterol, 77.9 million have high blood pressure and 29 million have diabetes.
• Their connection to major health complications (e.g. heart attack, stroke, kidney disease) when undertreated:Prior research shows a continuous decrease in hospitalization risk and total healthcare cost (i.e. medical plus drug costs) when medication adherence rises across the spectrum.
• The high cost associated with non-adherence: In 2010, the total direct national cost of non-adherence amongst adults for all three conditions was estimated to be $105.8 billion.
• Other key drivers and incentives to reduce healthcare costs: Medications for all three conditions are included in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Quality Measures for Medicare Part D.

“Our founding vision was to go way beyond reminding people to take their medications; we are starting to realize our goal of creating measurable benefits to both patients and the healthcare industry, with many more proof points to come in 2016 and beyond,” said Omri Shor, Medisafe CEO.

“Even before the conclusion of this study, IMS Health’s AppScript team recognized Medisafe as the highest-rated medication management app in terms of AppScript Score as seen in our recent IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics report, Patient Adoption of mHealth,” said Brian Clancy, Senior Product Manager, IMS Health AppScript. “When our team examined the data of Medisafe users versus non-Medisafe users, it became clear that the application was making a significant improvement in medication adherence.”

Full Results

* Difference between test and control is significant at the 95% level

“As a diabetic and a doctor, I’m well aware of the short-term discomfort of missing medications as well as the long-term impact from poor blood glucose control that often leads to serious – and costly – complications later in life,” said Dr. Daniel Mosby, a Medisafe user and junior doctor from the United Kingdom. “Personally, achieving 100% adherence with Medisafe has made an immense difference in my immediate well-being and is an investment in my long-term health. Professionally, these latest data points only reinforce my belief that the Medisafe application is a great option for healthcare providers who need to assist their patient population with adherence.”

The Medisafe / IMS study bolsters the results of an internal study Medisafe reported last month showing a segment of its Stage 1 and 2 hypertension users – those using a connected blood pressure cuff – decreased their systolic blood pressure by an average of 19.3 mmHg. Results of all Medisafe research studies can be found at www.medisafe.com/research.