Abstract

The acceptability of treatments is of major importance in the management of patients. Poor acceptability can lead to poor adherence, discomfort and reduced efficacy if treatment alteration is needed. Treatment acceptability is a key issue in the pediatric population, but is often overlooked in the geriatric population, although there are many similarities between the two populations. For this purpose, collaboration has been initiated among health professionals involved in the care of geriatric patients from 23 hospital pharmacists, 15 geriatric doctors and other actors involved in the care of geriatric patients, and Clinsearch®, a clinical research organization, in order to develop and validate a multivariate approach for the determination of acceptability in geriatric population. Using this approach, several parameters were identified as decreasing the acceptability of solid and liquid oral forms, such as tablet size or lack of flavor in liquid forms. In conclusion, as the acceptability of treatments is a complex set of parameters, the use of multivariate approach is essential. Furthermore, acceptability evaluation during development of treatments is essential, although too often overlooked.

Keywords: Medicine acceptability; Geriatric population; Drug formulation

Abbreviations: EMA: European Medicines Agency; DIP: Pharmaceutical Innovation Department; EP-HP: Pharmaceutical Establishment-Hospitals of Paris; AGEPS: General Agency for Health Products and Equipment