Bormioli Pharma and IQVIA Italy together to identify patients’ real needs

A collaboration between Bormioli Pharma and IQVIA - a global provider of advanced analytics, technology solutions and clinical research services for the life science industry - to investigate patients' medication use patterns was recently concluded.

This activity is part of Bormioli Pharma's innovation process, the company that bases the development of its innovative concepts on market surveys, research, but above all on ethnographic analyses that focus on end-user needs.

The research conducted together with IQVIA aimed to investigate the topic of self-medication in the home context in two areas:

• the administration of injectable drugs contained in glass vials
• the administration of topical medicines for the treatment of chronic dermatological conditions.

In the former case, individual interviews were conducted with a sample of Italian patients aged between 30 and 55, while in the latter, two focus groups were set up to facilitate the idea generation process through open and participative discussion. In both studies, the results highlighted some unmet needs and pointed to potential areas for improvement.

Patients accustomed to using injectable drugs, particularly for extemporaneous use (e.g. antibiotics, painkillers), complain of a complex preparation procedure, a potential risk in the use of the needle, and difficulty in fully drawing the product from the glass vials. Generally speaking, the interviews highlighted the fact that managing administration of the drug is often guided by intuition, therefore leaving ample room for error, which does not foster full awareness of the possible risks of contamination.

As far as dermatological medical packaging is concerned, patients perceive a clear gap compared to dermocosmetic counterparts, both in terms of design and materials used, and in terms of information content. Moreover, on a practical-functional level, this type of packaging seems to be designed in favour of the drug, without managing to establish a true dynamic of alliance and connection with the patient, who then finds themselves in the position of having to interpret the most correct mode of use. Both elements, according to those who took part in the interviews, contribute to preventing proper adherence to therapy.

Starting from these insights, Bormioli Pharma has launched its fourth innovation cycle, which will bring to market new prototypes in the coming months that can solve the critical issues highlighted by the surveys. The new concepts will add to the company's innovation pipeline, presented on this site under Invents.