Feasibility of an Individualized Dispensing Program for Patients Prescribed Oral Anticancer Drugs to Prevent Waste

PURPOSE: Waste of oral anticancer drugs (OACDs) causes financial and environmental burdens. This study evaluates the feasibility of an individualized dispensing program to prevent waste of OACDs.

METHODS: Adult patients were dispensed individualized quantities of niraparib, abiraterone, enzalutamide, ruxolitinib, osimertinib, or imatinib as standard care, during the first 6 months of treatment. The first 50 patients participated in an feasibility evaluation conform five domains of Bowen's Framework. (1) implementation: reach (eligible patients included) and protocol fidelity (executions following protocol) assessed from pharmacy data, (2) acceptability: rated from 1 to 10 and agreement with theoretical framework acceptability domains via a survey among patients and pharmacy technicians, (3) practicality: program's costs, (4) effect: compared with previous practice (full package supply per month), defined as difference in unused OACD unit doses and net cost-savings, and (5) demand: potential scale-up of the program by including more OACDs.

RESULTS: Participants' median age was 67 (interquartile range [IQR], 58-71) years, and 76% was male. (1) Implementation: reach and protocol fidelity were 89% and 90%, respectively. (2) Acceptability was high among patients (median, 9; IQR, 8-9) and pharmacy technicians (median, 7; IQR, 6-8). All acceptability domains were agreed on. (3) Practicality: program costs were €4,289. (4) Effect: unused OACD unit doses were reduced by 34%, causing net cost-savings of €693 per discontinued patient. (5) Demand: the program could be scaled up to seven times by including all OACDs.

CONCLUSION: Individualized dispensing for patients prescribed OACDs is feasible for preventing waste in terms of implementation, acceptability, practicality, effect, and demand.