After raising awareness about the importance of measuring blood pressure in May, it’s time for the second act in September! Servier is launching a new edition of the “#BecauseISaySo” prevention campaign in over 40 countries. The “TakeYourMedicine” component focuses attention on the need to take blood pressure medication and, for the first time, cholesterol medication.
It’s paramount to follow your doctor’s advice and recommendations to the letter. And yet, many patients treated for high blood pressure and high cholesterol stop taking or forget to take their medication on a daily basis a few months after it has been prescribed. What’s more, dyslipidemia, or high cholesterol, is a common comorbidity that often affects these patients.
More than 50% of people with hypertension have high cholesterol(1).
Nearly half of people with hypertension and dyslipidemia do not adhere to their treatment, or stop taking it after only a year(2).
What can be done to prevent the risk of cardiovascular events?
Poor adherence to blood pressure-lowering treatment or dyslipidemia medication can have serious consequences. As a result, cardiovascular risks such as heart attack, stroke, and ischemic heart disease increase, as do complications (heart failure, kidney damage, dementia, visual impairment, etc.).
With 1.2 billion people suffering from hypertension in the world, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death. Nearly 9.4 million people die from hypertension’s effects each year(3).
The good news is that blood pressure and cholesterol levels can be regulated by strict adherence to your doctor’s prescription. This is the best way to control these conditions in the long term and protect yourself cardiovascular events from occurring.
Adherence, a key battleground for Servier
The world’s third largest pharmaceutical group in cardiology(4) and historically committed to the fight against hypertension, Servier is launching the “#TakeYourMedicine” awareness campaign to boost patient adherence to their treatments.
Once again, this campaign has been designed with and for patients. It focuses on the “missing piece,” i.e., not following the doctor’s advice, stopping treatment prematurely, or not adhering to it to the letter.
“#TakeYourMedicine” provides tips in the form of cartoons to help patients remember to take their medication every day. These motivating tidbits have been inspired by the everyday lives of patients and their loved ones. For example, putting a reminder on the fridge, setting an alarm on a cell phone, associating taking the medication with an event that happens daily (a coffee break, lunch, walking the dog, etc.). The goal is to follow the doctor’s recommendations to a tee!
“After resounding success on the first two social media campaigns in 2020 and 2021, which reached millions of people, in 2022 we decided to repeat #BecauseISaySo, and #TakeYourMedicine to inform the public of the serious consequences of non-adherence and this working with patients association for optimizing the communication to the public. If a patient does not follow their treatment properly, this means that they are not fully protected. Efforts to raise awareness are all the more crucial today, as many patients got discouraged during the pandemic.“
David Pédelabat-Lartigau, Servier’s Director of the Hypertension Portfolio at Servier.
The #BecauseISaySo #TakeYourMedicine campaign is broadcast in several languages on Servier’s social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube).
Working with patients to improve adherence
Servier’s teams are committed to working with patients and health care professionals on a daily basis to prevent aggravating risk factors for disease and improve treatment adherence. One of the most meaningful examples is #BecauseISaySo, co-constructed with patients around the world.
“At Servier,we are committed to work with patients and HCPs to improve adherence. It is key for generating better care, better therapeutic effectiveness, better outcomes and less complications. The “#BecauseISaySo #Takeyourmedicine” campaign is a very good example of our long-term commitment with patients suffering chronic diseases.”
Bertrand Renaud, Chief Patient Officer of the Servier Group.
To find out more about Servier’s commitment to promoting treatment adherence
(1) Chowdhury R et al. Eur Heart J. 2013;34(38):2940-2948.
(2) Cowie MR. Simultaneous treatment of hypertension and dyslipidemia may help to reduce overall cardiovascular risk. Int J Clin Pract. 2005;59:839-846.
(3) Source: World Health Organization (WHO). https://www.who.int/news/item/09-12-2020-who-reveals-leading-causes-of-death-and-disability-worldwide-2000-2019
(4) IQVIA, Analytics Link / World 74 countries – MAT Q1-2022