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. 2020 Apr 28:14:771-779.
doi: 10.2147/PPA.S245955. eCollection 2020.

BetaEval Global: Prospective, Multinational, Observational Cohort Study of Patients Using BETACONNECT®

Francesco Patti  1 , María Luisa Martínez Ginés  2 , Christiane Norenberg  3 , Fernando Duarte Caron  4
Affiliations

BetaEval Global: Prospective, Multinational, Observational Cohort Study of Patients Using BETACONNECT®

Francesco Patti et al. Patient Prefer Adherence. .

Abstract

Purpose: Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) would benefit from continued long-term treatment with disease-modifying therapies, and autoinjectors may help improve patients' satisfaction with therapy, thereby increasing adherence rates. BETACONNECT® is an autoinjector for interferon beta-1b designed to improve the injection experience for patients. The BetaEval Global study assessed medication intake in patients using BETACONNECT to further investigate the value of this autoinjector.

Patients and methods: The BetaEval Global study was a prospective, non-interventional cohort study across multiple European countries in patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) or clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) who were starting interferon beta-1b treatment. The decision to administer interferon beta-1b was made independently of the study. Patients were assessed at the initial visits and planned follow-up visits at Weeks 4, 12, and 24. The primary outcome variable was compliance with therapy based on the medication possession ratio (MPR). Injections were automatically recorded by the BETACONNECT device or, in some instances, self-reported by the patients. This allowed for a complete dataset that could be used in the calculation of the MPR.

Results: Four hundred ninety-eight patients were enrolled and completed 93.9%, 95.2%, and 95.4% of prescribed injections at Weeks 4, 12, and 24, respectively. Similarly, 76.4% (n=318), 76.6% (n=297), and 81.1% (n=284) of patients completed at least 80% of their prescribed injections. Median scores assessing patient satisfaction with the autoinjector were consistently high across the study.

Conclusion: Overall, the results from BetaEval Global demonstrated that in this cohort of patients with RRMS or CIS on interferon beta-1b, use of the BETACONNECT autoinjector was associated with high rates of compliance, adherence, and patient satisfaction.

Keywords: adherence; autoinjector; disease-modifying therapy; interferon beta-1b; multiple sclerosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

F Patti served as an advisor for Almirall, Bayer, Biogen, Celgene, Merck, Novartis, Sanofi Genzyme, Roche, Reload Onlus, FISM and Teva, and received grants for speaking activities from the same companies. ML Martínez Ginés has received compensation for consulting services and speaking fees from Merck, Biogen, Novartis, Sanofi Genzyme, Almirall, Bayer, Roche, and Teva. C Norenberg is a salaried employee of Bayer AG. F Duarte Caron is a salaried employee of Bayer Healthcare. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Compliance at each follow-up visit for patients with non-missing compliance data only. Notes: (A) The median percentage of injections completed by patients using BETACONNECT®. (B) Percentage of patients that completed ≥80% of scheduled BETACONNECT injections.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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