OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of the Medisafe personalized medication app on adherence and persistence in three chronic therapeutic areas (TAs) among non-adherent patients.

METHODS: Patients with a pre-index medication possession ratio (MPR) <0.8 activating app alerts (users) for hypertension (HTN), depression (MDD) or Type 2 diabetes (DM) medications between 1/1/2014-12/31/2017 (index date) were linked to IQVIA’s longitudinal prescription claims (LRx), matched 1:3 to non-app users (controls) with pre-index MPR <0.8 in the same TA; all had ≥2 pre- and ≥3 post-index claims and were further matched on age, gender, region, number of pre-index prescriptions, and follow-up time. Change in pre- to post-index MPR was assessed using paired t-tests. Non-persistence was defined as > 60 day refill gap, evaluated using Kaplan-Meyer analysis/log-rank tests.

RESULTS: A cohort of 1,173 HTN, 200 DM, and 2,360 MDD users were matched to controls. Mean (SD) age of the users was 52.0 (11.6), 51.2 (10.9) and 42.9 (13.6) years for HTN, DM, and MDD, respectively. Mean (SD) follow-up was 13.6 (9.3), 12.9 (9.3) and 11.4 (8.3) months for HTN, DM, and MDD, respectively. Users had significant pre-to-post improvements in MPR in all 3 TAs [mean (SD) MPR pre vs. post: HTN: 0.54 (0.20) vs. 0.86 (0.17); DM: 0.52 (0.20) vs. 0.84 (0.21); MDD: 0.54 (0.20) vs. 0.86 (0.18) – all p<.0001]. Most users (74% of HTN; 68% of DM; 72% of MDD) with a pre-index MPR of <0.5 increased their absolute MPR by >=0.5 in each TA. Persistence was significantly longer for app users vs. controls in all 3 TAs (all p<0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS: Non-adherent patients using the Medisafe app demonstrated significant improvements in adherence in all 3 TAs. App users had significantly increased persistence compared to controls. Use of mobile app technology may benefit patients with a history of poor adherence.