in-Pharma Technologist reports that Target's 4-year implementation of simplified labels may not increase patient compliance:

http://www.in-pharmatechnologist.com/Packaging/Target-s-packaging-failed-to-increase-compliance-study

The gist of the report is summarized here:

1. Patient compliance is problematic: greater than half of the "patients with chronic illnesses fail to adhere to their medications".

2. "Failure to properly follow a prescription can result in worse health outcomes and more frequent hospitalisations, which has been estimated to cost the US health care system $170bn (€129bn) annually."

3. Target introduced simplified packaging in 2005, "to increase readability and understanding of the product’s label".

4. "A study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine that compared 23,745 Target users with one of nine chronic diseases and 162,368 matched non-Target pharmacy users found no significant difference in compliance between the groups."

This is not the last word. Other factors (increasing dependence on the internet, primary care provider, pharmacist, etc. for compliance information) may have helped create a situation in which the label is less important for compliance (thus evening the ground between the two pools of users).

However, it also suggests the creation of a hybrid label where the most salient (and dictated by law) information on compliance is printed on the packaging, and the packaging also contains a mark that leads either directly (e.g. barcode to URL such as the Open Mobile Alliance and GS1 efforts) or indirectly (e.g. listing of a URL to go to for more information) to the salient (and updated!) additional product compliance information.

This works well for both the brand owner and the consumer. The consumer has the key information on the product, but can get additional information as needed. The brand owner can update the URL to reflect real-time changes (recalls, new compliance regulations, new instructions, side effects, etc.). This is easier said than done--the regulators will have to carefully consider how to implement this. But it is possible.

Cheers,

Steve