More than 3,500 MyTherapy users have reminders scheduled for psoriasis medications. We recently sent a questionnaire to a sample of these users to gain insight into their attitudes towards psoriasis treatments, with some surprising results arising. Among them was the fact that only 22.8% of users consider ‘completely clear skin’ to be one of their top 3 priorities regarding treatment. This raises the question: do people living with psoriasis really not prioritize completely clear skin or do most simply not consider it a realistic possibility?

Psoriasis Treatment Survey: What Did We Ask?

The questionnaire was sent to a sample of MyTherapy users who have psoriasis medication reminders scheduled. Because the majority of these medications are also used to treat other conditions, users were asked if they were diagnosed with psoriasis, and only those who said yes completed the survey.

Users were asked questions regarding their satisfaction with their current treatment, whether they would recommend it to a loved one diagnosed with the same condition, and their interest in learning about alternative treatment options. Users were also asked to choose their top three priorities regarding treatment. ‘Completely clear skin’ was not even one of the three most selected answers, chosen by only 22.8% of respondents. We were surprised at this result, as pharma typically considers completely clear skin to be one of the primary treatment goals. Do users really not consider it a priority, or do many people consider it unrealistic and, therefore, choose alternative options?

Psoriasis Undertreatment & Low Patient Expectations

In a 2016 survey carried out by Novartis, 8,300 people around the world living with psoriasis were asked about their attitudes towards their treatment. 55% of respondents said that they did not consider completely clear or almost clear skin to be a realistic treatment goal. The figure remained almost identical two years later; even among patients who had achieved clear skin, over half had not thought it was possible.

A subsequent “Ask for Clear” campaign aimed to raise awareness of the fact that recent advancements in psoriasis treatments makes clear skin a realistic proposition for many more people. According to a 2017 article in the Pharmacy Times, “clear or almost clear skin is a realistic treatment goal for almost all patients” and that “safety data for the new [biologic] agents are reassuring.” Yet, despite attempts to raise awareness, undertreatment remains a serious issue. In a previous blog post, we looked at some of the reasons why undertreatment is still prevalent and how a lack of awareness of treatment options among patients seems to be a contributing factor.

The results of our survey support the notion that, for many people living with psoriasis, the idea of completely clear or almost clear skin is not a realistic one. So, what more can pharma do to change this perception among patients?

MyTherapy for Psoriasis & Patient Education

For pharma, there is a fine line between providing educational materials and advertising prescription medications – the latter of which is strictly prohibited in the majority of countries around the world. Yet, relying on dermatologists and other healthcare professionals to raise awareness of new treatment options does not appear to be working.

We believe that having a large number of MyTherapy users living with psoriasis presents an opportunity to do things differently. By providing safe, accurate, and up-to-date educational materials to these users, directly through the app, we can help raise awareness of the possibility of clear skin. However, we recognize that such materials are not relevant for millions of other MyTherapy users. This is why we are launching MyTherapy for Psoriasis. Right within MyTherapy, 'MyTherapy for Psoriasis' provides personalized information and support features, tailored to the needs of people living with psoriasis, right within the app which they already love for comprehensively managing their medication.

For pharma, we can take this a step further by implementing treatment-specific modules for users taking specific medications. Combined, this means users receive safe and reliable educational material and allows pharma to provide comprehensive support for aspects such as treatment initiation and dealing with side effects.

MyTherapy for Psoriasis is one of several disease-specific programs within MyTherapy, such as MyTherapy for MS, MyTherapy for Asthma or MyTherapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis. If you would like to learn more about how you can reach and support users living with psoriasis, MS, or any other chronic condition, do not hesitate to get in touch.