Publication of Kassa (the consumer platform of BNNVARA) from 12-02-2021.
A survey by Kassa with four patient associations and their members shows that medicine packaging that is difficult to open is still a thorn in the side for consumers. Especially for people with rheumatism, MS, ALS, muscular dystrophy, osteoarthritis or the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), these kinds of problems are daily practice. This is reported by Kassa.
The fact that packaging of medicines is difficult to open is a problem that has been going on for some time. In 2017, the Medicines Evaluation Board (MEB) already stated that medicine packaging for the elderly needed to be improved. Not only the elderly, but also people with a condition experience problems with packaging.
7 in 10 rheumatism patients have difficulty opening rheumatism medication
Previous research by ReumaNederland shows that 64 percent of people with rheumatism experience difficulty opening their own medicines. 71 percent also experience problems opening the pill strip of rheumatism medicines. According to the organization, this has unpleasant consequences, because there is a chance that a pill is not taken or is taken too late or that it is damaged when opened. This problem is exacerbated when you consider that the widely used rheumatoid medication methotrexate (MTX) is only available in a pill strip.
The MEB states that it is only logical to take into account the specific obstacles that a condition entails in packaging. To what extent are medicine packaging user-friendly according to other patient organizations and their members? We ask the MS Association Netherlands, ALS Foundation Netherlands, Muscle Diseases Netherlands and the Association of Ehlers-Danlos Patients (VED).
80 percent of MS patients experience problems with medicine packaging
A recent survey by MS Vereniging Nederland among 211 members shows that no less than 40 percent often and 38 percent sometimes experience problems with medicine packaging. This means that only 20 percent have no problems with medicine packaging. The pill strip in particular leads to great frustration: 124 of the 211 members experience problems with this. Furthermore, 65 members have difficulty with the cardboard box that contains this strip. A member doesn’t understand why medications couldn’t be more user-friendly for certain patients. “Medications for people with problems with their (fine) coordination and motor skills, in particular, should be packaged in such a way that taking them is not a mile in seven, in view of the ailment they can reduce.”
People with MS often have insufficient strength or precision to open these packages. Almost 7 percent therefore always rely on others to open the packaging for them, 17.7 percent often and 41.5 percent sometimes. Only 29 percent of the members are not dependent on others for this. This is problematic, because in some cases not being able to open the packaging yourself leads to later or even no ingestion of a medicine.
The difficulty in opening a pill strip, for example, often leads to damage to a medicine. For example, in 52 percent the drug sometimes damages (less than half of the times). One of the members says: “The pill often breaks when you press the strip. Because of this I can no longer take it. As a result, the entire sequence of my intake no longer runs!”
Other patient groups not satisfied
People from other patient groups also think that medicine packaging could be made more user-friendly. At least half of people with Ehlers-Danlos, a hereditary disorder of the connective tissue, experience problems opening medicine packages, estimates the Association of Ehlers-Danlos Patients (VED). According to VED, it helps if medicines are supplied in a jar or if a ‘baxterrol’ is used, a medicine roll.
The Netherlands Muscle Diseases Association sees that people with a muscle disease also experience problems with medicine packaging. A poll on their site, at the request of Kassa, shows that they experience problems with the pill strip in particular. People with muscle diseases often have little muscle strength in their hands and poor fine motor skills. This makes it very difficult to express a pill strip. Fred also indicates that in the poll. He used to get his pills loose in a jar, but now in those ‘difficult’ pill strips. That is “not useful with reduced hand function”, he says.
People with muscle diseases: ‘pills in a jar more convenient than in a pill strip’
Nowadays many blister blisters are packed in a cardboard box, which is closed with a strong plastic adhesive. “I can’t open it with my fingers,” Ada says in the poll. A large part of the poll participants prefer medicines in a jar, although a few people do prefer medicines in a cardboard package.
In addition, other squeeze packs, such as eye drops, lead to great frustration and even the pills in a jar are often not user-friendly due to the extra safety closure. As a result, problems with medicine packaging for people with various diseases are daily practice.
It doesn’t always go wrong: there are also medicine packaging that is user-friendly. For people with ALS, there is an alternative to the pill strip for the ALS drug Riluzol. This is also available in a liquid version, the ALS Netherlands Foundation indicates.
