Positive association between adherence and anti-TNF therapy compared to conventional therapy

US drugmaker AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) has released results from its multi-country ALIGN study, which shows that across six chronic immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs), adherence to treatment was generally higher in patients being treated with TNF inhibitors compared to patients treated with conventional therapy.

Furthermore, patients who were "accepting" toward their medication were more often adherent, compared to patients who were "ambivalent" toward their medication, as estimated from their responses to validated questionnaires. Results were presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) 2014 Congress in Paris, France.

"Getting patients to adhere to medication continues to be a common health care problem, particularly among patients with chronic illnesses," said John Weinman, study investigator and professor of psychology at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King's College, London. "This study, across six chronic inflammatory diseases and 33 countries, is the first of its kind and provides the medical community with important insights into how patients' beliefs and concerns may influence treatment adherence," he noted.