West Pharmaceutical Services & HealthPrize Technologies Join Forces

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. and HealthPrize Technologies, LLC recently announced a strategic collaboration to integrate HealthPrize’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) medication adherence and patient engagement platform with West’s injectable drug delivery systems, to provide an end-to-end connected health solution to pharmaceutical companies and the patients they serve. The combined offering will provide electronically-connected drug delivery systems that track when patients take their medication, educate and engage patients to increase adherence and medical literacy, and reward them for compliance with their prescribed regimen.

Medication non-adherence is a leading cause of poor clinical outcomes and increased healthcare costs. Industry analysts estimate poor medication adherence costs the U.S. healthcare system more than $290 billion in otherwise avoidable medical spending. According to a recent study performed by Capgemini, the pharmaceutical industry’s global revenue loss due to non-adherence to medication for chronic conditions is estimated to be $564 billion.

“We believe the unique and exclusive combination of the West drug delivery platforms with leading patient adherence software from HealthPrize provides a powerful partnership to be by our customers’ side to help improve patient compliance and health outcomes,” said Donald E. Morel, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, West.

The HealthPrize platform leverages a combination of gamification, behavioral economic concepts, education and rewards to maximize motivational impact. Patients enrolled in HealthPrize programs demonstrate persistently high engagement rates and materially higher adherence rates, nearly 50 percent higher than baseline, on average. In collaboration with West, HealthPrize will also offer real-time verification of medication usage via wireless connection to West’s drug delivery systems, including various biologics and other self-injected therapies.

“HealthPrize is thrilled to be working with West to provide the market’s first complete solution for injectable medications that will educate, motivate and reward patients, improving both engagement and adherence with their prescribed medication regimen,” said Tom Kottler, Chief Executive Officer, HealthPrize. “Given the growth of biologics and other injectables, it makes perfect sense to combine West’s delivery system expertise with our patient engagement and adherence platform to drive better patient outcomes.”

As a leader in drug containment and delivery systems, West provides solutions for self-injected drugs covering a range of dose volumes and drug viscosities. West currently markets several unique hand-held drug delivery systems, including the SmartDose® electronic wearable injector – the first wearable bolus injector to be studied in a clinical setting, the SelfDose® injector and the ConfiDose® auto-injector. West is also one of the largest contract manufacturers of pens and auto-injectors globally, producing more than 100 million of these devices each year.

The companies, in providing a universal solution adaptable for all types of devices and data transfer systems for wireless communication, are also implementing additional data transfer technologies into the platform including smart labels, RFID/NFC and QR-code scanning. West intends to develop system technology that will allow both West drug delivery systems as well as existing drug delivery devices of other manufacturers to interface with the HealthPrize software.

West is by the side of its healthcare partners from concept to the patient, designing and manufacturing packaging, diagnostic and delivery systems that promote the efficiency, reliability and safety of their products. Every day, West is leading the way with cutting-edge technologies and quality systems, a thorough understanding of global regulatory compliance, and an unmatched and growing knowledge base of pharmaceutical product testing, development and packaging. Based in Exton, Pa., West supports customers from sales, manufacturing, and research and development locations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. West’s 2013 sales reflect the daily use of approximately 100 million of its components and devices around the world. www.westpharma.com.

HealthPrize Technologies provides an innovative approach to addressing the problem of medication non-adherence with an online and mobile-based program that is fun, educational and rewarding. Patients are engaged and motivated by the HealthPrize system which leverages gaming dynamics, behavioral economics and proven concepts from consumer marketing to engage and educate patients so they start and stay on prescribed medications. www.healthprize.com.