Patients' perceptions on the usability of the SurePal™ self-injection device for Omnitrope ® : a questionnaire-based observational study conducted in paediatric patients in France.

BACKGROUND: A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to evaluate attitudes towards a reusable self-injection system, SurePal™, among paediatric patients with growth disturbances who were prescribed treatment with somatropin (Omnitrope® ) as part of routine clinical practice.

METHODS: This cross-sectional survey was incorporated into the multinational, multi-centre, noninterventional PAtients TReated with Omnitrope® (PATRO) Children study. Questions were mainly focused on five areas: the attractiveness of SurePal™; training received; use of the device; opinion of the low-drug wastage system; experience compared with previous devices used (among pretreated patients).

RESULTS: Final results from participants in France are reported. Completed questionnaires were returned by 409 participants. Most patients (55%) were male and 89% were recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH)-treatment naïve. Around 57% of children completed the questionnaire by themselves, while 43% had help from a family member/other person. The mean (standard deviation) age of all participants was 11.3 (3.6) years, and most patients were aged 10-12 years ( n = 126) or 13-15 years ( n = 117). Overall, 86% of patients reported that preparing SurePal™ for injection was easy/very easy. Similarly, 83% reported that performing injections with SurePal™ was easy/very easy. The attractiveness of SurePal™ was rated as good/excellent by the majority (85%) of patients; this proportion was similarly high (> 80%) across all age groups. The dose-memory function was rated as helpful/very helpful by 54% of patients. Of the 174 patients who reported using the low drug-waste feature, 90% found it to be helpful/very helpful. Among the 24 pretreated patients, 17 reported that SurePal™ was better/much better than their previous device.

CONCLUSIONS: This questionnaire-based survey conducted in a large cohort of paediatric patients with growth disturbances from France confirms the ease of use of SurePal™ to support daily administration of Omnitrope® across all age groups. The demonstrated acceptability of the device may help to improve patient adherence to long-term daily treatment with rhGH.