Facts You Should Know

According to the June 2005 article published in the Official Journal of The American Academy of Pediatrics entitled, "How Do You Improve Compliance?" the National Pharmaceutical Council estimated that $8.5 billion is unnecessarily spent annually on hospitalizations and physician visits caused by noncompliance to prescription regimens. The article goes on to say, that "Compliance is central to the pediatrician's ultimate concern".

In a study conducted by the Department of Pediatrics and Office of Medical Research, Maricopa Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona, the four most commonly used devices for oral administration of liquid medications to infants all provided incorrect doses of the prescribed medication. The industry standard oral syringe scored 40% and the combined success rate of all four devices averaged 37%.

The medibottle, with a 93% or more effectiveness rating, has the only peer-reviewed and published "A" in the Class. The closest competitor has received nothing but a grade of "F", regardless of who gave the test or when it was taken.

Just how big is the problem? Well, according to an article in Pediatrics, 59% of all infant hospital admissions were discretionary!

Two out of three children will have at least one episode of Otitis Media (OM), or ear infection before their first birthday. By the time they reach three, nearly 50% of those infants will have had three or more episodes of OM, according to the PTE-Registry merged medical and pharmacy database. With the current compliance level around 50% at best and the frequency of treatment failures increasing, reducing the need for second-line medications and additional office visits for treatment could reduce this cost significantly.

The Circle Solutions Pediatric Formulations Initiative conclusion states, "Dosing instruments may be as important as the formulation itself". Their proposed initiative includes the need, "To identify and promote the development and application in pediatrics of new methods of drug delivery."

The physician author of the April 2000 American Family Physician article entitled, "Acute Otitis Media: Part II. Treatment in an Era of Increasing Antibiotic Resistance" stated: "In many instances, palatability ultimately determines compliance in children." One of the keys that make medibottle so effective is that unpalatable medicines are washed down really fast with liquids that are palatable.

Perhaps this is why the nurse, who trialed the medibottle with 10 patients requiring Chloral Hydrate (a bitter tasting medicine) at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, was able to deliver 100% of the prescribed dose to all 10 patients, achieving 100% effectiveness. Yes, even under less than ideal conditions, the medibottle device can equal the compliance level of an IV and consistently deliver 100% of the prescribed dose. No other device can make this claim.

An abstract of the most recent study was presented March 11, 2007 at the Annual meeting of the Eastern Society for Pediatric Research and also on May 7, 2007 at the Pediatric Academic Societies Annual meeting. The study involved 76 hospitalized infants and the medibottle device was found to be 85.7% more likely to deliver 100% of the prescribed prednisolone (a bitter-tasting medicine) than the industry standard oral syringe. The conclusion stated, "Infant acceptance of a single dose of a bitter-tasting medicine using medibottle was superior to syringe (oral dispenser). More medibottle infants received the entire dose compared to syringe, without significant difference in administration times."

Have you ever read a conclusion where researchers went so far as to use the word "superior" when describing an outcome? You should know that The Medicine Bottle Company had nothing to do with the study or its findings, other than to provide the requested product. Please also note that two of the four physicians that conducted the research are full time faculty of The Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Their reputation and research are of the highest caliber.

I believe we can agree that regardless of how expensive or effective a prescribed medication may be, its therapeutic value is dependent upon actual delivery - all the way to the infant's stomach. Measuring an accurate dose of a prescribed medicine is only the first step. Delivering it is the other and it is here, where all other known devices, and medibottle - part company.

Increasing medication compliance to equal or approach 100% was the primary objective. The fact that the device almost always eliminates the trauma and upset is convenient, but secondary. It's great, we're thrilled, but it's secondary. Implementing the use of a device that can equal or approach the Compliance level of an IV is not a matter of convenience.

The commonly used devices for delivering oral liquid medication have proven to fail and this failure rate is reflected in the 8.5 billion dollar cost of non-compliance. We are not suggesting that medibottle is the entire solution, but medibottle can help.

Why have we been willing to spend whatever is necessary on the medicine, and then fall so short in its delivery? Perhaps it's because there was not a viable solution and needs tend to be ignored until a viable solution comes along. Regardless, unless the current failing grades for delivering medication to our infant population are acceptable, we must have a need to reduce the difference between the prescribed treatment and what's actually taking place.

Implementing the use of a single device can narrow this gap and when it comes to accurately delivering liquid medications to our infant population - medibottle is not just a solution, peer-reviewed studies have demonstrated that, right now, it's the only solution.

In the first clinical trial, medibottle ranked 1st in effectiveness at 93.3% vs. the 2nd place oral dispenser at 56.7% and infant acceptance using medibottle was 329% greater! The difference in effectiveness between the oral dispenser, considered the industry standard, and the medibottle proved to widen even further in the most recent study, with medibottle going from 64.5% better using a good-tasting medicine to 85.7% better using a bad-tasting medicine. Either way, the difference between medibottle and the 2nd best device is not just a gap - it's a gapping hole.

Increasing compliance to equal or approach 100% was the primary objective. However, we also found that the medibottle eliminated the trauma and upset that are often a part of the process - for both infant and caregiver! With medibottle, you can now replace any image that you may have of a caregiver struggling to give an upset infant a prescribed dose of medicine, with one of willing acceptance.

Breaking the cycle of non-compliance is the province of the medibottle. It's clinically proven design is an elegantly simple solution to dosing compliance. The device is the safest and most effective way to administer liquid medication to our infant population.