Adherence to oral anticancer chemotherapies and estimation of the economic burden associated with unused medicines.

Background The list of oral and expensive chemotherapy agents has lengthened over the last few years and has created unique medication adherence concerns. In a real-life setting, patients often do not take their medications as prescribed. This pattern is associated with poor outcomes and increased health care costs.

Knowledge, behaviors and practices of community and hospital pharmacists towards biosimilar medicines: Results of a French web-based survey.

This study's aims were: 1) to extract a comprehensive overview of the knowledge, experience and opinions of both community pharmacists and hospital pharmacists regarding biosimilar medicines in France; and 2) to identify the perceived problems and solutions to promoting their prescription. A 2015 web-based survey was conducted by the Observatoire des Médicaments, des Dispositifs Médicaux et de l'Innovation Thérapeutique of Alsace. A total of 802 pharmacists responded to the survey.

Rheumatologists' Perceptions of Biosimilar Medicines Prescription: Findings from a French Web-Based Survey.

Background: Healthcare cost savings are closely linked to prescribers' confidence in and acceptance of the prescription of biosimilar drugs.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, experience and opinions of hospital-based and office-based French rheumatologists with regard to biosimilar medicines and to identify the barriers to and possible options to promote their prescription.

Methods: A web-based, self-administered survey was conducted among French rheumatologists from June 8 to August 2, 2015.

Analysis and Breakdown of Overall 1-Year Costs Relative to Inpatient and Outpatient Care Among Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Treated with Biotherapies Using Health Insurance Claims Database in Alsace.

Background: The economic burden linked to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has greatly increased since the inclusion of biotherapies in the therapeutic arsenal.

Objectives: This study aimed first to look at the breakdown of the rheumatoid arthritis patients on biotherapy in Alsace, France, in 2012, then to evaluate the annual cost per treated patient for each management pathway: inpatient care with intravenous biotherapies and/or outpatient care through the use of subcutaneous drugs, and finally to conduct a cost comparison with a focus on infliximab, adalimumab and etanercept.

Methods: This observational study was conducted in Alsace using 2012 health claims data from the DCIR (Données de Consommation Inter Régime) and PMSI (Programme de Médicalisation des Systèmes d'Information) databases, taking into account direct medical and non-medical costs in a real-life setting and from a National Health Insurance perspective.

Drug-dispensing problems community pharmacists face when patients are discharged from hospitals: a study about 537 prescriptions in Alsace.

Objectives: To identify both type and frequency of the challenges community pharmacists face when dispensing drugs from hospital discharge prescriptions, to describe the measures undertaken to resolve the issues at stake and to list their consequences.

Design: We carried out an observational study in the community pharmacies of the French region of Alsace and asked the community pharmacy staff to review 537 hospital discharge prescriptions in 2013 using anonymous data collection forms.

Setting And Participants: Nineteen community pharmacies.

Medication in nursing homes in Alsace: a preferential list of drugs obtained by consensus.

Abstract: In order to improve patient care, OMEDIT (Observatory of drugs, medical devices and therapeutic innovation) Alsace, conducted a study to develop a Preferential list of Drugs adapted to the Elderly (PDE list) in nursing homes. The study conducted from December 2011 to June 2012 was organized in 4 phases: 1) creation of a preliminary list of drugs from those currently used in nursing homes in Alsace, 2) application of a two-round Delphi process to evaluate the preliminary list involving mobilization of experts from different backgrounds (geriatricians, general practitioners, pharmacists …), 3) identification of molecules considered in literature as potentially inappropriate, 4) generation of a final PDE list, including information concerning proper use of drugs for prescription and administration. 53 experts participated in the study.

Anticoagulant-related hospital admissions: serious adverse reactions identified through hospital databases.

Purpose: A growing number of patients today receive anticoagulants. These drugs can cause serious adverse reactions leading to patients' hospitalization. The present study aimed to assess the number of hospital admissions as a result of anticoagulant adverse reactions in Alsace, a French region of 1.