Vartelus, engaging patients for better health outcomes.

Patient Support

The age-old problem of patient non-compliance, which costs the global pharmaceutical industry $630 billion per annum, the NHS around £500 to £800 million per annum, and the US health systems $250 billion per annum, has never been solved by human only means. It is now time to augment human activities using the latest technology solutions; this is what Vartelus delivers and brings to life science and healthcare for the first time.

Why do patients not take their medication correctly? 


HCPs don’t have time to educate patients, and many don’t have the communication skills to achieve this; in the average 6-minute consultation, patient behaviour doesn’t change plus it’s more difficult to see HCPs post Covid-19.


A staggering 50% of patients don’t complete prescribed drug courses or take them properly. Not only does patient non-compliance seriously affect health outcomes, it also significantly reduces the lifetime value of brands.


While market share remains even harder to grow and is complicated by a declining available audience, consider what is lost though non-compliance and how reducing that decline can have a huge effect on market shares
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Illustration of the potential impact on lifetime value of a pharma brand because of patient non-compliance.

Competition for sales is high and pharma seek innovative and compliant options; a UK based GP for example, has over 3,000 drug choices, so a prescribing choice that includes Vartelus will encourage prescription because a patient using Vartelus will be better educated and supported, and far more likely to be compliant with better health outcomes, further driving the lifetime value of pharma brands.

Patient-led engagement with a Digital Human concierge.

Vartelus is leading the evolution of patient engagement. Guided by a digital human, Vartelus enables patients to access medically approved, understandable, compliant, and consistent information, conversation, and support, on demand 24/7 about products and therapy areas, so that they understand the importance of taking the full course of medication, and how to take it properly.


Combining medically approved information, qualified real-life experience, and appropriate conversational style, Vartelus is designed to improve patient outcomes by significantly reducing patient non-compliance to prescribed medication. 


Vartelus is reactive by not only answering patient questions and offering them access to educational support, but also ‘proactively’ connecting with the patient on a prescribed number of occasions to see how they are progressing, helping them understand better, and answering any questions or concerns.


Digital humans replicate nurse advisors to a large extent and become a trusted advisor themselves acting as a concierge, guiding the patient through the various topics available so that they select what is relevant and of particular interest to them.

In addition to conversation, the digital human will provide answers to questions, will check understanding, and can offer patients access to a full range of supporting and educational material for example, videos etc. 

Insights generated from interactions will inform pharma with key patient insights to help better shape the omni-channel strategies and decision-making process. 


A product that has Vartelus supporting patients will be a key factor in HCPs choosing to prescribe a particular medication or device, safe in the knowledge that their patient will be compliant and will therefore achieve the optimal clinical outcome.

  • The more the patient understands, the better the outcome.

    One of the main factors to better patient compliance and outcomes is for the patient to fully understand why they have been prescribed a particular product or medical device, and what it will achieve for them. They also need to be competent in how to take the medication and confident that, whatever the journey, for example side effects, they will achieve the best results by taking the full course of prescribed medication in the right way.

    Additionally, for a patient to have a good grasp of the disease/therapy area from medically approved sources, the better their understanding and belief in the treatment.

  • The best patient outcomes are about behaviour.

    Vartelus™ enables patients to understand and learn new behaviours, which for many with chronic conditions cannot be overlooked, for example, a newly diagnosed diabetic or asthmatic faces a huge ‘life change’ and in the typical 6 minutes they have with a physician, are very unlikely to understand what it all means. 


    Patient’s minds are in a state of concern, even panic, considering all the negative views and opinions they may have read on the internet. They have medical support brochures of course, but with an average reading age of 9 in the UK and United States for example, many will not understand even the basic medical content.


    It can take many weeks or months to change a lifetime of certain behaviours, and frequent returns to their doctor or nurse for more advice is a frustration for everyone, more so with post-covid-19 appointment issues. Even at follow-up appointments, some patients will not ask the right questions, for example “will I put on weight if I take this?” or “will it affect my sex drive?”. Questions like that, if left unanswered, will likely increase the risk of non-compliance. 


    We must further consider the negative effects of internet blogs by unqualified ‘lay people’ that can undermine approved clinical information. We see more and more unqualified ‘influencers’ making claims that have no clinical basis or evidence; these claims worry patients with dis-information. Pharma and healthcare providers need to protect against this to ensure the patient gets the full and honest facts, based on 10-15 years of research that will enable most patients to have successful outcomes through full compliance.