DuoResp^® Spiromax^® adherence, satisfaction and ease of use: findings from a multi-country observational study in patients with asthma and COPD in Europe (SPRINT)

Abstract

Objective: Adherence and inhaler technique are often suboptimal in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). New inhalers have been developed to improve these determinants of treatment effectiveness. We assessed treatment adherence, satisfaction, and ease of use of DuoResp^® Spiromax^® among SPRINT study participants.

Methods: The Phase IV SPRINT study was conducted in 10 European countries. Asthma and COPD patients were receiving a fixed-dose combination of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) and long-acting β₂-agonist (LABA), delivered via various inhalers including DuoResp Spiromax. DuoResp Spiromax users self-assessed adherence using the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8^®), and ease of use and satisfaction using 10-point scales, during a single physician’s office visit.

Results: Of 1661 (asthma: n = 1101; COPD: n = 560) SPRINT study participants, 342 (asthma: n = 235; COPD: n = 107) received DuoResp Spiromax prior to inclusion. Overall, 72.5% of DuoResp Spiromax users reported medium or high adherence (MMAS-8 score ≥6). Mean (standard deviation [SD]) satisfaction score for DuoResp Spiromax was 8.9 (1.6). Almost all (98.8%) DuoResp Spiromax users were at least satisfied with their inhaler; 85.4% were very satisfied. Mean (SD) ease of use score for DuoResp Spiromax was 9.1 (1.3).

Conclusions: Asthma and COPD patients using DuoResp Spiromax reported moderate-to-high medication adherence, were very satisfied with their inhaler and found it easy to use.

Keywords:

• Asthma
• COPD
• ICS/LABA
• DuoResp Spiromax
• adherence
• satisfaction

Acknowledgements

Medical writing support was provided by Ian Grieve of Ashfield Healthcare Communications, part of UDG Healthcare plc, and was funded by Teva Pharmaceuticals. Teva Pharmaceuticals provided a full review of the article. The authors were fully responsible for all content and editorial decisions, were involved at all stages of manuscript development, and have approved the final version.

Declaration of interests

Job van der Palen, Isa Cerveri, Chelo Gonzalez and Vibeke Backer and declare no conflicts of interest.

Nicolas Roche reports grants and personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, and personal fees from Teva, GSK, AstraZeneca, Chiesi, Mundipharma, Cipla, Sanofi, Sandoz, 3 M, Pfizer, and Zambon outside of the published work.

Dave Singh received grants and/or personal fees from AstraZeneca, Apellis, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, Cipla, Genetech, GlaxoSmithKline, Glenmark, Menarini, Merck, Mundipharma, Novartis, Peptinnovate, Pfizer, Pulmatrix, Skyepharma, Teva, Theravance, and Verona.

Vicente Plaza in the last three years received honoraria for speaking at sponsored meetings from Astrazeneca, Chiesi and Novartis. Received help assistance to meeting travel from Astrazeneca, Chiesi and Novartis. Acts as a consultant for ALK, Astrazeneca, Boehringer, MundiPharma and Sanofi. And received funding/grant support for research projects from a variety of Government agencies and not-for-profit foundations, as well as AstraZeneca, Chiesi and Menarini.

Oliver Patino and Guilherme Safioti are employees of Teva Pharmaceuticals.

Irma Scheepstra was an employee of Teva Pharmaceuticals at the time the study was conducted.

Additional information

Funding

This study was sponsored by Teva Pharmaceuticals. Medical writing support was funded by Teva Pharmaceuticals.