Patient Perceptions and Preferences of Two Etanercept Autoinjectors for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Findings from a Patient Survey in Europe

• Published in: Rheumatology and therapy. Vol. 3; no. 2; pp. 245 - 256
• Main Authors: Thakur, Kunal, Biberger, Anna, Handrich, Alexandra, Rezk, Mourad Farouk
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cheshire Springer Healthcare 01.12.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Family Medicine; General Practice; Internal Medicine; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original Research; Orthopedics; Polls & surveys; Preferences; Prescription drugs; Quality of Life Research; Rheumatoid arthritis; Rheumatology; Europe; Survey; Benepali; Etanercept; Rheumatoid arthritis; Enbrel; Patients; Biosimilar; Autoinjector
• ISSN: 2198-6576; 2198-6584
• DOI: 10.1007/s40744-016-0048-9

Introduction Benepali ® was the first etanercept (Enbrel ® ) biosimilar to be approved in the European Union. Both Benepali and Enbrel are available as autoinjector devices. In a recent survey, nurses from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom (UK) reported that their patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) would prefer the Benepali autoinjector compared to the Enbrel MYCLIC autoinjector. To determine whether patients’ perceptions were similar to those of the nurses, this survey evaluated patients’ perceptions and preferences of the Benepali autoinjector versus the Enbrel MYCLIC autoinjector in the same five European countries. Methods Patients with RA using the Enbrel MYCLIC autoinjector participated in a 25-min, face-to-face questionnaire-interview. Patients were also shown an instructional video and device-handling leaflet, received a live demonstration on the Benepali autoinjector, and had access to both Benepali and Enbrel MYCLIC training autoinjectors. Patients rated the importance of ten autoinjector attributes on a seven-point scale (1 = not important at all; 7 = extremely important) and provided their autoinjector preferences based on specific attributes. Patients also gave their opinion on which autoinjector they would prefer to use for self-injection. Results Overall, 220 patients participated in the survey (France, n  = 30; Germany, n  = 65; Italy, n  = 67; Spain, n  = 12; UK, n  = 46). ‘Easy to operate the self-injection’ was ranked as the most important attribute (mean score of 6.8), followed by ‘easy to grip’ (6.5), and ‘intuitive/self-explaining usage’ (6.3). Patients preferred the Benepali autoinjector, with the attribute of ‘easier to operate’ being a strong differentiator compared to the Enbrel MYCLIC autoinjector. Most patients (74%) reported that they would prefer to use the Benepali autoinjector over the Enbrel MYCLIC autoinjector. ‘Easy to operate the self-injection’ and ‘button-free autoinjector’ were key drivers when selecting an autoinjector. Conclusions Patients in Europe reported a preference for the Benepali autoinjector compared to the Enbrel MYCLIC autoinjector. This finding is consistent with results from a recently reported nurse survey. Funding: Biogen.