The New York Times reports on compliance programs that are designed to get patients to stick to their drug regimens. These are both good for the patients' health and for pharmaceutical company profits, as many patients do not take all their prescribed drugs properly--especially for conditions for which symptoms are not obvious such as high-blood pressure. Several companies like McKesson and subsidiaries of manufacturers such as Pfizer Health Solutions have call centers from which nurses contact patients from various payers including state Medicaid plans, to persuade them to take their pills. Everyone agrees compliance is good and that getting patients to take their pills is hard work. Of course, it's also true that the pharma companies only promote these programs to support their branded products, when compliance is a problem across the board for all drugs--generics included.
- see this article from the New York Times