The need of improving patient adherence continues to be a pressing social issue to address. Patients’ medication-taking behavior is much more complex than just their ability to adhere to the prescriptions, their acceptance and attitudes towards their disease and treatment i.e., adhesion also plays a key role. Although adherence and adhesion are often used interchangeably when describing patients’ medication taking behavior, the difference between these two terms is not just semantics.

Over the years, many studies have been conducted to explore the drivers and barriers for patient adherence aiming to further improve patient engagement and disease management. There are different tools for assessing patient adherence and adhesion, but a more standardized and comprehensive tool is still needed to cover all dimensions of patient adherence.   

At EphMRA 2022, Menarini and SKIM shared our experience and learnings regarding understanding patient adherence and adhesion. Furthermore, we will address our views on the importance of using the right methodologies and materials and what actions can be taken by the industry to create a new standard in assessing and promoting patient engagement throughout the patient pathway.

What you’ll learn:

  • Why is it important to move from adherence to adhesion?
  • What did we learn about Adhesion from our qualitative study?
  • How is adherence typically measured and what are some pitfalls?  
  • Why do we need to create a new standard tool to measure adherence or adhesion and what are our visions of this tool?

About the Presenters


Michele Spinetta- Corporate Market Research Head, The Menarini Group

Michele has been involved in market research since his university studies at Bocconi University. Within the pharma industry, in 2003, he joined the Menarini Group, where he has always worked in Market Research positions. Since 2016, he has held the Corporate / Global Market Research Head role.


Daisy Lau- Senior Manager, SKIM

Daisy has over 15 years’ experience in healthcare market research and has become a trusted partner to many Pharma clients. With her passion for qualitative research, her goal is to provide clients with a deep understanding of the behavioral drivers of patients and healthcare professionals. As such, she has worked successfully on numerous patient research regarding chronic disease management and treatment adherence.

interested in learning more about this topic? Schedule a consultation with one of our SKIM Healthcare experts