Patient Enablement and Immunotherapeutic Drug Self-Dosing

(Amherst, NH) – The administration of therapeutic immune modulators is becoming an increasingly important healthcare treatment option for a growing number diseases and indications having broad implications for patient health and well-being. But to fully exploit the value of this class of therapeutics in both human and commercial terms, developers must successfully navigate the inherent limitations of drug storage and administration, moving away from infusion and toward injection as a route of administration.

The advantages of administering immunotherapeutic injectables subcutaneously is now well accepted and has been more-or-less institutionalized in the drug life cycle development process for non-oncology indications. Antibody drug products indicated for chronic conditions such as autoimmunity are often re-formulated, re-packaged and re-labeled into injectable form and re-introduced two to three years post-market launch to address the growing economic pressure and patient desire to avoid the need for out-patient infusion in favor of self-injection.

The migration to patient self-care presents several areas of concern. By making the patient the single point of failure for dosing adherence and successful drug delivery, devices and protocols must be developed and tested to a new, higher standard. New generation drug injection devices are increasingly being created to address patient adherence issues by making the delivery of injectable drugs less complicated and intimidating. Efforts to enhance adherence to dosing schedules have a non-negligible effect on drug formulation and delivery decisions and are a significant factor in the prescribing decisions of many physicians.

The adherence issue is also being addressed through formulation enhancements designed to reduce dosing frequency. Technologies that are being investigated to create these less frequent dosing include a range of approaches such as microsphere encapsulation, drug conjugation, higher API concentrations, and physical chemistry processing.

As the administration of injectables moves increasingly from practitioner offices and healthcare facilities to patient homes, decisions regarding as-supplied packaging that were once considered boilerplate have moved to the early stages of the drug development process. A wide spectrum of device attributes, including form factor, device-patient interaction, security and safety, dosing, activation, off-device communication, and drug formulation factors have been incorporated into drug injection devices. Over time, these initiatives will come to be expected by patients in injectable drugs.

Immunotherapeutic drugs and the devices that deliver them are having a significant impact on healthcare therapeutics. These developments are detailed in a new and comprehensive report researched and written by Greystone Research Associates. The report – Immunotherapeutic Drugs, Devices and Patient Enablement: Devices, Packaging, Therapeutics, Strategies & Forecasts - analyzes Immunotherapeutics, how they’re administered and the way they’re packaged. The report includes analysis of competitive factors, therapeutic class product positioning, supply chain factors, device market share, and the product activities of sector participants.

More information is available at http://www.greystoneassociates.org

Source: Greystone Research Associates

About Greystone

Greystone Research Associates is a medical technology consulting firm focused on the areas of medical market strategy, product commercialization, venture development, and market research. We assist medical and healthcare market participants in achieving their business objectives through the creation of detailed development strategies, product commercialization programs, and comprehensive market and technology research and analysis. Our market research publications are designed, researched and written to provide timely and insightful information and data on focused market segments, with the aim of providing market participants with the essential knowledge to refine and execute their marketing plans and financial targets.

Contact:

Mark Smith
Greystone Research Associates
98 Route 101A
Amherst, NH 03031 USA
Voice: 603-595-4340
www.greystoneassociates.org

This release was published on openPR.