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Kai-Michael Beeh,1 Kieran J Rothnie,2 Jing Claussen,3 Fränce Hardtstock,4 Rachel K Knapp,4 Thomas Wilke,5 Alexandrosz Czira,2 Chris Compton,6 Afisi S Ismaila7,8 1Insaf Respiratory Research Institute, Wiesbaden, Germany; 2Value Evidence and Outcomes, R&D Global Medical, GSK, Brentford, UK; 3Global Medical Affairs, GSK, Munich, Germany; 4Real World & Advanced Analytics (RWAA), Cytel, Berlin, Germany; 5IPAM e.V., Institute affiliated with University of Wismar, Wismar, Germany; 6Global Medical, GSK, London, UK; 7Value Evidence and Outcomes, R&D Global Medical, GSK, Collegeville, PA, USA; 8Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, CanadaCorrespondence: Afisi S Ismaila, Value Evidence and Outcomes, GSK, 1250 South Collegeville Road, Collegeville, PA, 19426-0989, USA, Tel +1 919 315 8229, Email afisi.s.ismaila@gsk.comPurpose: To assess patient characteristics of users and new initiators of triple therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Germany.Patients and Methods: Retrospective cohort study of patients with COPD and ≥ 1 prescription for single-inhaler triple therapy (SITT; fluticasone furoate/umeclidinium/vilanterol [FF/UMEC/VI] or beclomethasone dipropionate/glycopyrronium bromide/formoterol [BDP/GLY/FOR]) or multiple-inhaler triple therapy (MITT), using data from the AOK PLUS German sickness fund (1 January 2015– 31 December 2019). The index date was the first date of prescription for FF/UMEC/VI or BDP/GLY/FOR (SITT users), or the first date of overlap of inhaled corticosteroid, long-acting β2-agonist, and long-acting muscarinic antagonist (MITT users). Two cohorts were defined: the prevalent cohort included all identified triple therapy users; the incident cohort included patients newly initiating triple therapy for the first time (no prior use of MITT or SITT in the last 2 years). Patient characteristics and treatment patterns were assessed on the index date and during the 24-month pre-index period.Results: In total, 18,630 patients were identified as prevalent triple therapy users (MITT: 17,945; FF/UMEC/VI: 700; BDP/GLY/FOR: 908; non-mutually exclusive) and 2932 patients were identified as incident triple therapy initiators (MITT: 2246; FF/UMEC/VI: 311; BDP/GLY/FOR: 395; non-mutually exclusive). For both the prevalent and incident cohorts, more than two-thirds of patients experienced ≥ 1 moderate/severe exacerbation in the preceding 24 months; in both cohorts more BDP/GLY/FOR users experienced ≥ 1 moderate/severe exacerbation, compared with FF/UMEC/VI and MITT users. Overall, 97.9% of prevalent triple therapy users and 86.4% of incident triple therapy initiators received maintenance treatment in the 24-month pre-index period.Conclusion: In a real-world setting in Germany, triple therapy was most frequently used after maintenance therapy in patients with recent exacerbations, in line with current treatment recommendations.Plain Language Summary: Triple therapy (a combination of three different respiratory inhaled medications) is recommended for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who experience repeated short-term symptom flare-ups when taking dual therapy (a combination of two different respiratory medications). Previously, patients had to take triple therapy using two or three separate inhalers. More recently, single-inhaler triple therapies have been developed, meaning patients can take all three different medications at the same time via one single inhaler. This study assessed the characteristics of patients who were already receiving triple therapy, or who started triple therapy (either via multiple inhalers or a single inhaler), in Germany between January 2015 and December 2019.In total, 18,630 patients who were already receiving triple therapy during the study period, and 2932 patients who newly started using triple therapy were included. The study reported that more than two-thirds of included patients had experienced at least one flare-up of COPD symptoms in the 2 years before starting triple therapy. Most patients had also received another therapy for COPD before starting triple therapy. A small proportion of patients started taking triple therapy after receiving no other therapy for COPD in the previous 2 years.The results of the study suggest that triple therapy for COPD in Germany is most often used in accordance with recommendations (patients already receiving therapy and experiencing repeated symptom flare-ups).Keywords: COPD, Germany, MITT, patient characteristics, real-world treatment, SITT

Roland Buhl,1 Thomas Wilke,2 Nils Picker,3 Olaf Schmidt,4 Marlene Hechtner,5 Anke Kondla,5 Ulf Maywald,6 Claus F Vogelmeier7 1Pulmonary Department, Mainz University Hospital, Mainz, Germany; 2IPAM e.V, Wismar, Germany; 3Cytel Inc - Ingress-Health HWM GmbH, Wismar, Germany; 4Pulmonary Group Practice, Koblenz, Germany; 5Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Ingelheim, Germany; 6AOK PLUS, Dresden, Germany; 7Department of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Philipps University of Marburg (UMR), Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Marburg, GermanyCorrespondence: Roland Buhl, Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik - Universitätsmedizin der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Langenbeckstraße 1, Mainz, 55131, Germany, Tel +49 6131 17 7271, Email roland.buhl@unimedizin-mainz.dePurpose: This study aimed to describe the real-world treatment of German incident COPD patients, compare that treatment with clinical guidelines, and provide insight into disease development after incident diagnosis. In addition, the economic burden of the disease by assessing COPD-related healthcare costs was described.Patients and Methods: Based on a German claims dataset, continuously insured individuals (04/2014-03/2019) aged 40 years or older with at least two incident pulmonologist’s diagnoses or one inpatient diagnosis of COPD (ICD-10-GM code J44.-; no respective diagnosis in a 12-month baseline period) were selected. Treatment patterns after incident diagnosis considering inhaled maintenance therapies identified by ATC codes (outpatient prescriptions) were analyzed. Prescription patterns were compared with recommendations of German COPD treatment guidelines. Severe exacerbations were assessed as hospitalizations with main diagnosis ICD-10-GM code J44.1. COPD-associated costs from the perspective of the health insurance fund AOK PLUS were calculated per patient-year (PY).Results: The sample comprised 17,464 incident COPD patients with a mean age of 71.5 years. 58.9% were male and the mean Charlson-Comorbidity-Index was 5.3. During follow-up (median: 2.0 years), 57.1% of the patients received at least one prescription of an inhaled maintenance therapy, whereas 42.9% did not. Among treated patients, 35.2% started their treatment with LABA/LAMA, 25.3% with LAMA monotherapy, 16.2% with LABA/ICS, and 7.8% with LABA/LAMA/ICS therapy. Within four weeks after initial diagnosis, ICS-containing therapies were prescribed in 14.1% of patients. Of all patients with a prescribed triple therapy, 68.9% had no corresponding exacerbation history documented. On average, 0.16 severe exacerbations and 0.19 COPD-related hospitalizations were observed per PY during available follow-up. Direct COPD-related costs were 3,693 €/PY, with COPD-related hospitalizations being responsible for about 79.2% of these costs.Conclusion: Long-acting bronchodilators are the mainstay of pharmacological treatment of incident COPD patients in Germany, in line with guideline recommendations. Yet, a considerable proportion of incident COPD patients did not receive any inhaled maintenance therapy.Keywords: COPD, real-world treatment, exacerbation frequency, healthcare costs

Thomas Wilke,1 Nils Picker,2 Sabrina Müller,2 Anna Stürmlinger,3 Barthold Deiters,4 Axel Dittmar,1 Jens Aberle,5 Maximilian Gabler3 1IPAM e.V., Wismar, Germany; 2Ingress-Health HWM GmbH, Wismar, Germany; 3Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co.KG, Ingelheim, Germany; 4GWQ ServicePlus AG, Düsseldorf, Germany; 5Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, GermanyCorrespondence: Nils Picker, Ingress-Health HWM GmbH, Alter Holzhafen 19, Wismar, 23966, Germany, Tel +49 3841 758 1013, Fax +49 3841 758 1011, Email nils.picker@ingress-health.comPurpose: Achieving good glycemic control in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) may require individualized pharmacological approaches. We aimed to compare direct healthcare costs in patients treated with empagliflozin (EMPA) compared to dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i) or glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1-RA).Patients and Methods: This German claims data study included continuously insured persons with at least two outpatient diagnoses and/or one inpatient diagnosis of T2DM if they started EMPA, DPP-4i, or GLP-1-RA in 2015– 2018. Healthcare costs were assessed from therapy initiation until the end of data availability, death, or therapy discontinuation and compared among propensity score-matched cohorts.Results: Of 24,465 patients included, 3285 received EMPA, 19,443 DPP-4i, and 1747 GLP-1-RA. Matched cohorts were balanced on baseline characteristics (EMPA versus DPP-4i: n1/n2 = 3100/3100 and EMPA versus GLP-1-RA: n3/n4 = 1346/1346). Mean total costs after start of DPP-4i were € 7009 (95%-CI: 6573– 7444) versus € 4274 (3982– 4566) for EMPA. Costs associated with GLP-1-RA treatment were also significantly higher compared with EMPA (€ 6851 [6183– 7518] versus € 4895 [4345– 5445]).Conclusion: Although the individual clinical patient profile and physician assessment are paramount in treatment decisions, substantial differences in the economic impact of different antidiabetic therapies should be considered.Keywords: type 2 diabetes mellitus, sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor, DPP-4 inhibitors, GLP-1 receptor agonists, healthcare costs

Fraence Hardtstock,1 Julia Krieger,1 Thomas Wilke,1 Marco Lukas,2 Bernhard Ultsch,2 Robert Welte,2 Renate Quinzler,3 Ulf Maywald,4 Hartmut Timmermann5 1IPAM e.V, Wismar, Germany; 2GlaxoSmithKline GmbH & Co. KG, München, Germany; 3AOK Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, Germany; 4AOK PLUS, Dresden, Germany; 5Schwerpunktpraxis Colonnaden, Hamburg, GermanyCorrespondence: Fraence Hardtstock, Email Fraence.hardtstock@ipam-wismar.deBackground: Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in Germany. While many patients achieve asthma control under standard therapies, some patients still experience exacerbations and persistent airway obstructions. Thus, further pharmacological treatment is needed, and biologics could fill this gap, as they have shown clinical benefit in patients with severe asthma. Therefore, this real-world study aimed to compare healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and associated costs before and after biologic therapy initiation.Methods: A retrospective claims data analysis has been conducted on adult asthma patients who initiated a long-term biologic therapy between January 2015 and June 2018. Patients were therapy-naïve to biologics for at least 12 months. HCRU and cost incurred by patients during 12 months before and after therapy initiation were compared.Results: Overall, 571 asthma patients initiated a biologic therapy during the observational period (316 omalizumab, 232 mepolizumab, 16 benralizumab, and 7 reslizumab). Patients had a mean age of 54.86 (62.70% female), and the majority (93.70%) received at least one follow-up prescription of their index-biologic agent within one year. During baseline, patients received on average 2.75 OCS prescriptions compared to 2.17 during follow-up. Most patients received less or the same amount of OCS after therapy initiation. Moreover, hospitalizations and asthma-related sick leave days decreased significantly. The average total costs per patient were € 6618.90 during baseline and € 22,832.33 during follow-up. Biologics mainly drove the increase; however, hospitalization costs were reduced significantly (€ 2443.37 vs € 1941.93; p< 0.001).Conclusion: Our study demonstrates an improved asthma control due to the initiation of a biologic therapy in terms of decreased hospitalization frequency, OCS consumption, and sick leave days. However, biologics are associated with high costs for healthcare providers during the first year after initiation. Therefore, short- and long-term clinical benefits and financial burden must be considered in the overall context of healthcare.Keywords: biologics, treatment pattern, claims data, real-world evidence, Germany

Thomas Wilke,1 Burkhard Weisser,2 Hans-Georg Predel,3 Roland Schmieder,4 Sven Wassmann,5 Anton Gillessen,6 Jörg Blettenberg,7 Ulf Maywald,8 Olaf Randerath,9 Sabrina Mueller,10 Michael Böhm11 1Institut für Pharmakoökonomie und Arzneimittellogistik (IPAM)/Institute for Pharmacoeconomics and Pharmaceutical Logistics, Wismar, Germany; 2Institute of Sports Science, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany; 3Institute of Cardiology and Sports Medicine, German Sport University, Cologne, Germany; 4Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany; 5Faculty of Medicine, Cardiology Pasing, Munich and University of the Saarland, Homburg/Saar, Germany; 6Department of Internal Medicine, Herz-Jesu-Hospital, Münster, Germany; 7Practice Dr. J. Blettenberg, Lindlar, Germany; 8AOK PLUS – The Health Insurance for Sachsen und Thüringen; GB Medicines/Remedies, Dresden, Germany; 9Medical Department, APONTIS PHARMA GmbH & Co.KG, Monheim, Germany; 10Ingress-Health HWM GmbH, Wismar, Germany; 11Clinic for Internal Medicine III, University Clinic of Saarland, Saarland University, Homburg/Saar, GermanyCorrespondence: Thomas Wilke, Institute of Pharmacoeconomics and Medication Logistics, University of Wismar, Alter Holzhafen 19, Wismar, 23966, Germany, Tel +4938417581014, Fax +4938417581011, Email Thomas.wilke@ipam-wismar.deAim: Current guidelines for the treatment of arterial hypertension (AH) or cardiovascular (CV) prevention recommend combination drug treatments with single pill combinations (SPC) to improve adherence to treatment. We aimed to assess whether the SPC concept is clinically superior to multi pill combination (MPC) with identical drugs.Methods and Results: In an explorative study, we analyzed anonymized claims data sets of patients treated with CV drugs for hypertension and/or CV disorders who were insured by the German AOK PLUS statutory health fund covering 01/07/2012-30/06/2018. Patients at age ≥ 18 years who received either a SPC or MPC with identical drugs were followed for up to one year. A one to one propensity score matching (PSM) was applied within patient groups who started identical drug combinations, and results were reported as incidence rate ratios (IRRs) as well as hazard ratios (HRs). After PSM, data from 59,336 patients were analyzed. In 30 out of 56 IRR analyses, superiority of SPC over MPC was shown. In 5 out of 7 comparisons, the HR for the composite outcome of all-cause death and all-cause hospitalizations was in favor of the SPC regimen (SPC versus MPC): valsartan/amlodipine: HR=0.87 (95% CI: 0.84– 0.91, p ≤ 0.001); candesartan/amlodipine: 0.77 (95% CI: 0.65– 0.90, p = 0.001); valsartan/amlodipine/hydrochlorothiazide: HR=0.68 (95% CI: 0.61– 0.74, p ≤ 0.001); ramipril/amlodipine: HR=0.80 (95% CI: 0.77– 0.83, p ≤ 0.001); acetylsalicylic acid (ASA)/atorvastatin/ramipril: HR=0.64 (95% CI: 0.47– 0.88, p = 0.005).Conclusion: SPC regimens are associated with a lower incidence of CV events and lower all-cause mortality in clinical practice. SPC regimens should generally be preferred to improve patient’s prognosis.Keywords: single pill, adherence, cardiovascular outcomes, mortality, prognosis, clinical practice

Fraence Hardtstock, 1,* Urbano Sbarigia, 2,* Zeki Kocaata, 1 Thomas Wilke, 1 Shirley V Sylvester 3 1Ingress-Health HWM GmbH, Wismar 23966, Germany; 2Janssen Pharmaceutica, Beerse 2340, Belgium; 3Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Titusville, NJ 8560, USA*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Fraence HardtstockIngress-Health HWM GmbH, Alter Holzhafen 19, Wismar 23966, GermanyTel +49-3841-758-1024Fax +49-3841-7581011Email fraence.hardtstock@ingress-health.comBackground: Current antiviral therapies for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) rarely achieve functional cure, thus often requiring lifelong therapy. A therapy achieving functional cure in a significant percentage of patients could change the treatment landscape substantially. However, the acceptability of functional cure by patients is unknown, especially if associated with additional treatment burden.Methods: A Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) including patients with CHB was performed between 2018 and 2019 in Germany. Patient inclusion criteria were confirmed CHB; age of at least 18 years; no history of hepatocellular carcinoma; no HIV or HCV/HDV co-infection. The final DCE included the following attributes: route of administration (oral administration by tablets; subcutaneous injection + tablets; intramuscular electroporation + tablets), side effect frequency (0/1/3 days per month), functional cure (1%/30%/50% of patients), frequency of physician visits (monthly, half-yearly) and travel time to treating physician (15/45 min).Results: The main analysis sample consisted of 108 patients with CHB (mean age: 49.1 years, female: 37.0%, average time since CHB diagnosis: 14.0 years, 52.8% with Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) chronic HBV infection). High efficacy was found to be the main driver of decisions for/against the presented treatment options (impacted 57% of patients’ decisions), followed by therapy regimen (17%), safety profile (12%) and number of physician visits (11%). Latent class analysis revealed first insights into different decision patterns, with age, gender and previous side-effect experience affecting patients’ decisions.Conclusion: In comparison to all other treatment-related attributes such as therapy regimen or safety profile, patients with CHB showed a strong preference towards a scenario where a substantial number of patients benefit from sustained disease remission, which mimics functional cure.Keywords: hepatitis B, antiviral therapies, sustained virologic response, functional cure, discrete choice experiment, patient preferences

Sabrina Müller, 1 Tjalf Ziemssen, 2 Curt Diehm, 3 Tobias Duncker, 4 Philipp Hoffmanns, 5 Inga-Marion Thate-Waschke, 6 Markus Schürks, 6 Thomas Wilke 7 1Ingress-Health, Wismar 23966, Germany; 2Zentrum für klinische Neurowissenschaften, Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurologie, Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus an der Technischen Universität Dresden, Dresden 01307, Germany; 3Private Practice, Ettlingen 76275, Germany; 4Institut für Augenheilkunde Halle, Halle 06114, Germany; 5Private Practice, Rheinstetten 76287, Germany; 6Bayer Vital GmbH, Leverkusen 51368, Germany; 7Institut für Pharmakoökonomie und Arzneimittelogistik, Wismar 23966, GermanyCorrespondence: Sabrina MüllerIngress-Health, Alter Holzhafen 19, Wismar 23966, GermanyEmail sabrina.mueller@ingress-health.comIntroduction: The aim of this study was to examine physicians’ preferences regarding adherence-promoting programs (APPs), and to investigate which APP characteristics influence the willingness of physicians to implement these in daily practice.Materials and Methods: A discrete choice experiment was conducted among general practitioners, cardiologists, neurologists and ophthalmologists in Germany. The design considered five attributes with two or three attribute levels each: validation status of the APP; possibility for physicians to receive a certificate; type of intervention; time commitment per patient and quarter of the year to carry out the APP; reimbursement for APP participation, per included patient and quarter of the year.A multinomial logit model was run to estimate physicians’ utility for each attribute and to evaluate the influence of different levels on the probability of choosing a specific APP. The relative importance of the attributes was compared between different pre-defined subgroups.Results: In total, 222 physicians were included in the analysis. The most important characteristics of APPs were time commitment to carry out the program (34.8% importance), reimbursement (33.3%), and validation status of the program (23.7%). The remaining attributes (type of intervention: 3.6%; possibility to receive a certificate: 4.7%) were proven to be less important for a physician’s decision to participate in an APP. Physicians on average preferred APP alternatives characterized by little time commitment (β=1.456, p< 0.001), high reimbursement for work (β=1.392, p< 0.001), “positive validation status” (β=0.990, p< 0.001), the “possibility to get a certificate” (β=0.197, p< 0.001), and the provision of “tools for both physicians and patients” (β=0.150, p< 0.001).Conclusion: For the majority of the physicians participating in this survey, the willingness to implement an APP is determined by the associated time commitment and reimbursement. Considering physicians’ preferences regarding different APP features in the promoting process of these programs may enhance physicians’ participation and engagement.Keywords: adherence promoting programs, adherence interventions, compliance programs, discrete choice experiment

Thomas Wilke,1 Nils Picker,2 Sabrina Mueller,2 Silke Geier,3 Johannes Foersch,4 Jens Aberle,5 Stephan Martin,6 Matthias Riedl,7 Maximilian Gabler31IPAM, University of Wismar 23966 Wismar, Germany; 2Real-World Evidence and Health Economics, Ingress-Health HWM GmbH, Wismar 23966, Germany; 3HP Country Commercial - Market Access, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. Kg, Ingelheim Am Rhein 55216, Germany; 4HP Country Medical Affairs, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. Kg, Ingelheim Am Rhein 55216, Germany; 5Department of Internal Medicine III, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg 20246, Germany; 6German Diabetes Center, Leibniz Institute at Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf 40591, Germany; 7Center for Diabetology, Internal and Nutritional Medicine, Medicum Hamburg MVZ GmbH, Hamburg 20097, GermanyBackground: A substantial share of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients receive insulin. However, little is known about the real-world treatment patterns around insulin initiation.Methods: This was a retrospective claims data analysis. T2DM patients who initiated an insulin therapy between 01/01/2013 and 31/12/2015 were identified in the German AOK PLUS dataset. For validation of results, additional data on a similar T2DM patient population were collected in a Germany-wide medical chart review.Results: A total of 284,878 T2DM patients were identified. Of these, 27,340 (9.6%) initiated an insulin treatment during the inclusion period (mean age: 72.2 years; 51.4% female). Mean/median weight and BMI of patients with available clinical data was 85.8/84.0 kg (SD:18.9) and 30.6/29.8 kg/m2, (SD:6.1), respectively at baseline. Mean/median HbA1c-value at baseline was 8.4/8.0% (SD: 1.8). Most commonly prescribed antidiabetic drugs (AD) within 6 months before insulin initiation were metformin (MET; 54.0%), DPP-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i; 37.6%), and sulfonylureas (SU; 29.5%). As high as 23.2% of the patients did not receive any AD prescription within 6 months before insulin initiation. A total of 10,953 of above 27,340 insulin starters (40.1%) initiated their insulin therapy without concomitant ADs (insulin monotherapy); 43% of these patients did not receive any AD before insulin initiation. Of the remaining 16,387 patients (59.9%), 4070 patients (14.9%) received MET only as concomitant AD, 6385 (23.4%) received MET plus at least one further AD, and 5932 (21.7%) received at least one further AD excluding MET. Throughout the first year of treatment, prescribed insulin dosage increased over time, resulting in approximately 43.3–77.9 IUs per observed patient day after 12 months of insulin treatment.Conclusions: Characteristics of German T2DM patients initiating insulin deviate substantially from the average German population, especially in terms of weight. We identified an unexpectedly high number of patients without previous AD therapy receiving insulin monotherapy, which is not in line with the clinical guidelines.Keywords: T2DM, antidiabetic treatment, claims data, chart review

Thomas Wilke,1 Sabrina Mueller,2 Sabine Bauer,2 Silvia Pitura,3 Leona Probst,3 Boris A Ratsch,3 Hans Salwender4 1Institut für Pharmakoökonomie und Arzneimittellogistik (IPAM), 23966 Wismar, Germany; 2Ingress-Health, 23966 Wismar, Germany; 3Takeda Pharma Vertrieb GmbH & Co. KG, 10117 Berlin, Germany; 4Asklepios Kliniken Hamburg GmbH, 22763 Hamburg, Germany Background and objectives: This study describes preferences of German relapsed refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) patients with novel proteasome inhibitor-based combination treatments.Methods: Patients with a minimum age of 18 years and a diagnosis of RRMM were included. Their preferences were assessed using a discrete choice experiment design, which was developed based on a literature review and two patient focus group discussions. The final discrete choice experiment design consisted of four attributes, namely “therapy application regimen,” “time without progression of disease,” “possibility of grade ≥3 adverse events (AEs) affecting the blood,” and “possibility of grade ≥3 AE heart failure.”Results: Analysis was based on 84 patients (36.9% females, mean age 62.7 years, mean multiple myeloma disease duration 5.5 years). Among the tested attributes, “therapy application regimen” was assigned the highest importance for treatment decisions (38.8%), the second important attribute was “time without progression of disease” (38.7%), followed by “possibility of AE heart failure” (13.9%) and “possibility of AEs affecting the blood” (8.6%). Patients preferred oral intake once a day and once a week over other application modes such as oral intake once a day and once a week plus twice-weekly infusions. Furthermore, they preferred longer disease progression-free time and lower risk of grade ≥3 AEs. The highest overall utility was derived for ixazomib + lenalidomide + dexamethasone (utility: 3.218), compared with lenalidomide + dexamethasone (2.769), and carfilzomib + lenalidomide + dexamethasone (1.928).Conclusion: RRMM patients prefer treatments with an all-oral application, a longer disease-progression-free time, and a lower probability of AEs. If patients face tradeoffs, they accept a lower progression-free time and/or higher AE rates to get an all-oral therapy. Keywords: MM patient’s treatment preferences, relapsed refractory multiple myeloma, RRMM, discrete choice experiment, DCE

Sabrina Müller,1 Thomas Wilke,1 Andreas Fuchs,2 Ulf Maywald,2 Jan-Paul Flacke,3 Harald Heinisch,4 Klaus Krüger5 1Institute for Pharmacoeconomics and Medication Logistics, University of Wismar, Wismar, 2AOK PLUS, Dresden, 3Roche Pharma AG, Grenzach-Wyhlen, 4Chugai Pharma Europe Ltd, Frankfurt/M, 5Praxiszentrum St Bonifatius, Munich, Germany Objective: This study aimed to assess the level of nonpersistence (NP) and nonadherence (NA) to methotrexate (MTX) therapy in German patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Materials and methods: Based on German claims data, RA patients who received a MTX therapy (subgroup: treatment-naive patients) were analyzed. NP was defined as treatment gap >12 weeks. Regarding NA, it is the overall medication possession ratio (MPR) during an observational period of 12 or 24 months after therapy, and the MPR is calculated only for the periods of therapy continuation; NA was defined as MPR

The continuously improved energy efficiency and reduced water usage of domestic laundry appliances has improved the environmental footprint of washing considerably. But the sustainability-driven shift towards lower washing temperatures, and the increasing use of bleach-free detergents, may unfortunately negatively impact laundry freshness and hygiene. This calls for new innovation for the sustainable detergents of tomorrow. Here we show that with the use of a nature-based dispersin enzyme technology, deep-cleaning and malodor prevention is possible, on textiles and in the washing machine, even at low temperature washing with liquid and single-dose detergents. This shows that it is possible to formulate detergents that can enable the consumers to wash their clothes sustainably without compromising washing performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laufende Verbesserungen der Energieeffizienz und des Wasserverbrauchs von Haushaltswaschmaschinen haben die Umweltbelastung durch Haushaltswäsche erheblich reduziert. Im Sinne der Nachhaltigkeit sind niedrige Waschtemperaturen wünschenswert, können aber, wie auch die Verwendung bleichmittelfreier Waschmittel, die Frische und Hygiene der Wäsche beeinträchtigen. Aus diesem Grund sind Innovationen für nachhaltige Waschmittel von morgen notwendig. In diesem Artikel wird gezeigt, dass mit Dispersin, einem Enzym auf natürlicher Basis, selbst bei niedrigen Temperaturen und mit Flüssigwaschmitteln eine verbesserte Tiefenreinigung der Textilien und Vermeidung unangenehmer Gerüche auf der Wäsche sowie in den Waschmaschinen möglich ist. Damit wird aufgezeigt, dass es möglich ist, Waschmittel zu formulieren, mit denen Verbraucher ihre Kleidung nachhaltig waschen können, ohne Kompromisse hinsichtlich der Waschleistung eingehen zu müssen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]