SDI Reports: Antiviral Prescriptions Increased Nearly Nine-Fold on Tuesday, April 28
In Los Angeles, Antiviral Prescriptions 13 Times Higher than Normal; 15 Times Higher than Normal in New York
PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 30, 2009 - After an intense weekend of media coverage about a possible swine flu epidemic, U.S. antiviral prescriptions hit the highest point so far in 2009 and increased nine-fold on Monday, April 27, compared to the average daily volume of collected prescriptions from April 1-26, reports SDI.
The upward trend in antiviral prescriptions began on Friday, April 24 — the day after the first public Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcement of swine flu cases in California and Texas — and has remained at a similar level since, with Tuesday's volume still nearly 9 times that of the April daily average.
In the metropolitan statistical areas of New York and Los Angeles, antiviral prescriptions rose significantly higher. In New York, prescription volume increased to more than 14 times the daily April average in that area on Monday and rose even higher to 15 times the daily norm on Tuesday. Los Angeles saw the most dramatic increase so far, with daily prescription volume on April 27 increasing 16-fold to the highest point it has reached on any single day in the past two flu seasons. Prescription volume remained at a similar level on Tuesday, with volume 13 times higher than normal.
In the United States, timing of influenza varies by city, with the season generally running from October through April each year. As of April 24, all physician office visit trends appeared consistent with a typical flu season and one that was mild compared to the season before. As a result, antiviral prescriptions between Oct. 1 and April 24 were lower than the same period last season.
“Although it is not uncommon for the number of antiviral prescriptions to increase at different times throughout the season,” said Laurel Edelman, vice president of clinical accounts at SDI, “we don't expect to see such a dramatic increase in one day at the end of the season.”
SDI maintains the largest influenza monitoring program in the United States and has tracked, measured, and forecast the number of people affected by cough, cold, influenza, and other upper respiratory conditions to assist clients and consumers alike for over 25 years.
FluSTAR® (www.FluSTAR.com), a nationwide primary surveillance system implemented by SDI and sponsored by Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., collects extensive data from approximately 20,000 patients with influenza-like illness each season. Additionally, SDI's Sentinel Laboratory Network monitors circulating strains of influenza by tracking influenza type, location, patient age, and the risk groups that are infected. This information is combined with physician office visit data to provide city-level, up-to-date influenza information as it happens.
Over the last few years, SDI has arranged to have many of the viruses isolated in physician offices and labs be completely sequenced through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' Influenza Genomics initiative. Visit http://msc.jcvi.org/infl_a_virus/collections.shtml and http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/research/resources/mscs/Influenza for more information.
“In any field, effective decision making depends critically on access to information that is accurate, detailed, and current. SDI believes that putting methods for analyzing the most timely data available about medical care consumption in the hands of public health researchers will bring substantial public health benefits,” said SDI CEO Andrew Kress.
“Specifically, creating a timely strategy for tracking influenza outbreaks and demonstrating increases in a variety of healthcare settings allows public health officials to evaluate both adherence to recommendations and the impact of their communications to the public in a timely way,” Kress added.
FluSTAR® is a registered trademark of Hoffmann-La Roche Inc.
About SDI
Since 1982, SDI has been delivering innovative healthcare data products and analytic services to the pharmaceutical, biotech, healthcare, medical device, financial services, and consumer packaged goods industries. SDI is the leading provider of de-identified patient-level data analytics and offers a broad array of solutions and insights across the continuum of care. These include custom and syndicated patient-level data studies; localized disease and treatment surveillance and projection; market research audits; healthcare profiles; comprehensive managed care offerings; clinical trial optimization; direct-to-patient pharmacy programs; marketing effectiveness; sales targeting and compensation products; data integration, warehousing, and mining; list services; and direct marketing services. Its current roster includes the top 50 pharmaceutical/biotech companies. For more information, visit www.sdihealth.com or call 610.834.0800.
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Contact: SDI
Tracy Everly, 267-685-4387
teverly@sdihealth.com
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