Clinicians talk COPD inhaler costs on X in first half of 2024
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Key takeaways:
- Several clinicians expressed concern about inhaler costs for those with COPD in January.
- AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim and GSK agreed to cap the price of their inhaler products at $35 in March.
In the first half of 2024, several U.S. health care professionals discussed the price of inhalers for patients with COPD on X, formerly Twitter, according to a tracker from Creation Healthcare.
In an analysis spanning January 2024 to June 2024, Creation Healthcare evaluated 1,493 COPD-related posts on X, to find out major topics discussed by U.S. health care professionals (HCPs) on this platform.
These COPD-related posts came from a total of 750 HCPs, according to the release.
As Healio previously reported, this analysis captured discussion on COPD therapy types and COPD treatments. The third and final topic tracked on X was the price of COPD inhalers.
Notably, several HCPs expressed concern about inhaler costs for those with COPD in January.
“Between Jan. 7 and 8, there were a total of 12 HCP mentions focused on COPD inhaler cost concerns,” Jamie Doggett, associate director of research at Creation Healthcare, told Healio.
However, concern turned to celebration when three of the largest producers of inhalers made an announcement about the cost of their products in March.
As Healio previously reported, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim and GSK agreed to cap the price of their inhaler products at $35, and this came after several Democratic lawmakers asked pharmaceutical companies to lower inhaler prices.
One post featured in Creation Healthcare’s analysis on this topic came from Anand S. Iyer, MD, MSPH, associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, in which he stated that the price cap “would be life saving ... for those with limited to no insurance.” As of Aug. 7, this post has 1,458 views, seven reposts and 28 likes.
In the first 6 months of the year, the five pharmaceutical companies mentioned the most by HCPs talking about COPD included Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, AstraZeneca, Sanofi and Teva.
“In general, HCPs’ mentions of pharmaceutical companies form a relatively small percentage of the overall conversation on a given topic,” Doggett told Healio.
“In this particular study, mentions of pharmaceutical companies constituted 2% of HCP posts,” he added. “Many of these posts were about companies' efforts to make inhalers more affordable and accessible.”
HCPs may also mention pharmaceutical companies online following news of product/treatment trial results, approvals or campaign launches, according to Doggett.
Reference:
- Price caps, emerging treatments, and influential voices: HCPs’ online COPD conversations revealed. https://creation.co/press-release/price-caps-emerging-treatments-and-influential-voices-hcps-online-copd-conversations-revealed/. Published July 23, 2024. Accessed Aug. 2, 2024.