Prescription Refill Appearance Change Puts Patients off Meds
When refilled prescriptions for post–heart attack care resulted in the same medication looking different in shape or color, patients were significantly more likely to stop taking their meds. Dina Fine Maron reports
By Dina Fine Maron
SUBSCRIBE TO 60-Second Health
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Don’t judge a book by its cover. And don’t judge a pill by its color—or shape.
When prescriptions for post-heart attack care got refilled and the same drugs suddenly came in different shapes or colors, patients were significantly more likely to stop taking their meds. That’s the finding from a study involving more than 11,000 patients that appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine. [Aaron S. Kesselheim et al., Burden of Changes in Pill Appearance for Patients Receiving Generic Cardiovascular Medications After Myocardial Infarction: Cohort and Nested Case–Control Studies]
Even when different-looking pills contained the exact same active ingredient, a change in color boosted the odds that patients would stop taking their heart medication by 34 percent. A change in shape jumped the chance that patients would cease their meds by 66 percent.
There’s no legal requirement to make generic and brand-name drugs appear alike. But the study’s authors say that the Food and Drug Administration should consider making consistent appearance the standard, as such uniformity would likely result in more patients adhering to their medication regimens. For now, we’re all stuck reading pharmaceutical labels.
—Dina Fine Maron
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
