BURLINGTON, Mass., Dec. 21, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that an average of 55 percent of surveyed asthma patients in the U.S. report that they are likely or very likely to request a switch to a drug with efficacy that is comparable to their current medication but which is dosed just once a day. The likelihood of requesting this switch increases with worsening disease control, which is likely due to the fact that somewhat-controlled and poorly controlled patients currently use a greater number of drugs and report a greater disease burden.

The new Patient Forum report entitled Patients' Comfort and Familiarity With Current Asthma Treatments May Present Challenges for Emerging Brands also finds that surveyed patients who currently have somewhat-controlled asthma experienced delays in diagnosis and drug treatment compared with surveyed patients who currently have well-controlled asthma. Somewhat-controlled patients are less likely to seek treatment immediately following the onset of symptoms compared with well-controlled patients and are more likely to delay medical attention for seven months or more after they experience symptoms.

"Somewhat-controlled patients are also less likely than well-controlled patients to receive a diagnosis at their first physician visit after the onset of symptoms," said Decision Resources Analyst Amanda Puffer, M.S. "Somewhat-controlled patients are more likely to be diagnosed by a primary care physician (PCP) than well-controlled patients. PCPs may be less comfortable than pulmonologists or allergists with a variety of asthma therapies, which could contribute to the likelihood that patients do not achieve better control of their asthma symptoms."

Regardless of their level of disease control, the findings also reveal that very few patients are likely to request a switch to a treatment with improved efficacy but that requires intravenous administration as more than half of surveyed patients indicate that they are "very unlikely" to request such a switch.

"Only five percent of poorly controlled patients, the most likely recipients of the drug, are likely or very likely to request a switch to a more efficacious drug with intravenous administration," Ms. Puffer said. "This unwillingness to switch to a less convenient formulation may present a challenge to the uptake of emerging, intravenously administered agents such as GlaxoSmithKline's Bosatria and Cephalon's Cinquil."

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SOURCE Decision Resources