Epilepsy | Treatment Algorithms | Claims Data Analysis | US | 2015
Epilepsy is a debilitating neurological condition characterized by recurrent seizures that imparts a social and economic burden on patients and their caregivers. The goal of therapy is to prevent the recurrence of seizures and improve the patient’s quality of life. Physicians consider a variety of factors when choosing a pharmacotherapy, and the large array of marketed antiepileptic drugs allows physicians to individualize treatment for their epilepsy patients.
Using national patient-level claims data, this report analyzes physician adherence to the treatment guidelines by exploring the use of key therapies in the newly diagnosed and recently treated epilepsy patient populations. Considering the newly diagnosed patients, the report provides a quantitative analysis of treatment patterns and share by line of therapy, as well as progression between lines, duration of treatment on each line, and use of concomitant treatment. With respect to recently treated patients, the report quantifies a drug’s source of business compared with its competitors and details which drugs precede others through an analysis of add-versus-switch patterns. Additional analyses explore persistency and compliance by brand.