World Hypertension Day 2012: Daiichi Sankyo Europe Announces Patient Website Dedicated to Hypertension
Munich (ots/PRNewswire)
**Not be used by UK media**
To mark this year's World Hypertension Day, Daiichi Sankyo Europe has announced a website for patients offering more information about hypertension management and treatment. http://www.hypertensioncare.eu is now available to patients and physicians across Europe (excluding the United Kingdom). The purpose of this educational website is to help address the burden of hypertension across Europe and improve compliance with lifestyle changes and medications.
The website supports this year's theme for World Hypertension Day; Healthy Lifestyle - Healthy Blood Pressure, looking at how healthy lifestyle choices can work alongside medication to lower blood pressure. The website suggests seven ways in which patients can adapt their lifestyle to reduce their blood pressure. These recommendations include lowering salt intake, increasing fruit and vegetables in your daily diet, lowering alcohol consumption, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, quitting smoking and minimising stress levels.
The content is also partially introduced by the "HypertensionCare team", a team of 6 characters that are either involved in the treatment of hypertension (including a GP and nurse) or have hypertension themselves. In addition, the text content is supported by animations, quizzes and videos, in which the characters of the Hypertension Team play main parts. This unique feature provides patients with advice from different healthcare professionals and patients about aspects of hypertension management and treatment in an interesting and informal way.
"This website demonstrates Daiichi Sankyo's continued commitment to listening to the needs of patients and physicians, and offers tools and services that provide them with added support when dealing with their condition," says Reinhard Bauer, CEO of Daiichi Sankyo Europe.
The latest Manhattan Research from 2011 shows that over 50% of physicians across Europe recommend health websites to their patients.[1] For that reason the patient website also provides a great additional service opportunity for physicians to guide their patients to this website and let them obtain information on high blood pressure in an easy to understand language and format.
Worldwide, high blood pressure is estimated to cause 7.5 million deaths per year, about 12.8% of the total of all deaths.[2] Despite broad availability of anti-hypertensive treatments, currently less than 50% of patients achieve the recommended blood pressure goal of <140/90 mmHg in Europe.[3] The website aims to decrease the burden of hypertension, through providing information on aspects of hypertension management. It also focuses on physicians and patients working effectively together to improve compliance.
Daiichi Sankyo's HypertensionCare franchise offers a range of services and products, including this website, to help tackle the burden of hypertension. Through these services Daiichi Sankyo hopes to provide patients and physicians with the tools and educational material to enable them to better address the obstacles faced in reaching blood pressure target goals.
Examples of the services supported by Daiichi Sankyo include:
- A MAU test programme to facilitate early detection of microalbuminuria and
help physicians to prevent organ damage and failure. (http://www.MAUtest.org)
- The SHARE (Supporting Hypertension Awareness & Research Europe-wide) Programme
- a collaborative initiative driven by leading European clinicians and scientists in
the field of hypertension. SHARE has been established to provide greater insight and
understanding into both the challenges faced by local healthcare practitioners and the
rationale behind their choice of treatment. The programme is designed to encourage the
sharing of best practice and practical solutions in hypertension to help physicians to
overcome their local healthcare challenges. (http://www.share-hypertension.com)About Daiichi Sankyo
The Daiichi Sankyo Group is dedicated to the creation and supply of innovative pharmaceutical products to address the diversified, unmet medical needs of patients in both mature and emerging markets. While maintaining its portfolio of marketed pharmaceuticals for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and bacterial infections, the Group is engaged in the development of treatments for thrombotic disorders and focused on the discovery of novel oncology and cardiovascular-metabolic therapies. Furthermore, the Daiichi Sankyo Group has created a "Hybrid Business Model", which will respond to market and customer diversity and optimize growth opportunities across the value chain.
The company's world headquarters are in Tokyo. Its European base is located in Munich. Daiichi Sankyo Europe has affiliates in 12 European countries in addition to a global manufacturing site located in Pfaffenhofen, Germany.
For more information, please visit: http://www.daiichisankyo.comor http://www.daiichi-sankyo.eu
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements and information about future developments in the sector, and the legal and business conditions of Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH. Such forward-looking statements are uncertain and are subject at all times to the risks of change, particularly to the usual risks faced by a global pharmaceutical company, including the impact of the prices for products and raw materials, medication safety, changes in exchange rates, government regulations, employee relations, taxes, political instability and terrorism as well as the results of independent demands and governmental inquiries that affect the affairs of the company. All forward-looking statements contained in this release hold true as of the date of publication. They do not represent any guarantee of future performance. Actual events and developments could differ materially from the forward-looking statements that are explicitly expressed or implied in these statements. Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH assumes no responsibility for the updating of such forward-looking statements about future developments of the sector, legal and business conditions and the company.
References
1) Manhattan Research, 2011, Taking the Pulse Europe study.
2) World Health Organization (WHO). Global Health Observatory (GHO), Raising
Blood Pressure: Situation and Trends. Available at:
http://www.who.int/gho/ncd/risk_factors/blood_pressure_prevalence_text/en/index.html
(last accessed April 2012).
3) Pereira et al. Differences in prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of
hypertension between developing and developed countries. J Hypertens 2009; 27:
963_975.Contact:
Contact: Lydia Worms, Phone +49-89-7808751, European Product PR
Senior Manager, lydia.worms@daiichi-sankyo.eu