The Patients in Need® Program
Modern science can work miracles, and these often take the form
of pharmaceuticals that can enhance quality of life or mean the
difference between life and death for millions of Americans.
Unfortunately, not every American can take advantage of these
life-saving products. Many patients cannot afford to pay for needed
medications out-of-pocket and lack insurance coverage or access
to government assistance. In fact, as many as 37 million Americans
are denied important medical therapies for economic reasons.
Searle's philosophy is that no patient should go without a
potentially life-saving therapy because of an inability to pay.
Our response to this pressing social concern is the Patients in
Need® program. For nearly 10 years, Patients in Need has
provided certain Searle medications free to patients who fall
below the poverty line and who do not have any form of third-party
healthcare insurance coverage. Patients who qualify can
receive without cost any one of eight cardiovascular compounds, as well
as an antibiotic and a medication that prevents NSAID-induced
ulcers. Searle has also pledged to include in the program all new
drugs that treat life-threatening diseases as the company
introduces them in the U.S. market. To date, more than 15 million
months of therapy have been distributed free of charge.
Certificates for free prescriptions of eligible Searle products are made available to all
doctors and clinics in the U.S. who wish to participate in the
program. Patient qualification is left to each physician's discretion.
Patients who are considered eligible are given a certificate along with their prescription
that can be used as payment at any pharmacy.
The Patients in Know® Program
One of the disturbing facts of medicine is that a large percentage of
patients do not understand the drugs they take. For example, one survey
showed that 60 percent of
prescription users say they don't remember key instructions that their
physicians relay about their medications. In addition, nearly half of
patients who get their prescriptions filled do not comply with dosing
instructions. Unfortunately, these trends can drastically impact the
effectiveness of drug therapy.
To improve patient knowledge about prescribed treatments and increase
compliance, Searle instituted the Patients in the Know® program,
the first comprehensive effort by a pharmaceutical company to provide
easy-to-understand information about its prescription physicians
worldwide. Now in its seventh year, the program supplies participating
physicians with information sheets that they can distribute to help
assist patient understanding and recall of verbal instructions. Unlike
the technical material that accompanies all prescription products in
the U.S., the sheets are written in simple terms that the lay person can
easily comprehend.
Patient Promise®
It is not uncommon that a pharmaceutical that helps millions of patients
will not work in a select few. For these patients, the cost of therapy
is doubled: They must purchase a second medication as the first is
relegated to the back of the medicine cabinet.
Searle believes the pharmaceutical industry should stand behind its
products in the same way that other manufacturers do. For this reason,
it introduced the Searle Patient Promise program in the U.S., guaranteeing a
complete refund if a Searle product does not achieve a desired
therapeutic benefit as evaluated by the patient's personal physician.
The program, which has been in place since 1987, eliminates any
financial risk to patients who are prescribed a Searle medication.
In order to qualify for a refund under the program, patients must request
a special form from their physician. The physician states on the form
that the medication did not deliver the desired result. The patient
completes the remainder of the form and sends it to Searle with the
unused portion of the most recently filled prescription and the purchase
receipt.
