• Philip Crispin, Robert Henderson, James Yun, Christina Crosbie, David Tognarini, Sherif Youssef, Giulio Barrese, and Simone Fleischmann.
• School of Medicine and Psychology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
• Intern Med J. 2024 Nov 1; 54 (11): 182718371827-1837.

BackgroundSubcutaneous immunoglobulin (SCIg) therapy is important in the treatment of primary (PID) and secondary immunodeficiencies (SID) and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). Patient support programmes (PSPs) help patients self-administer medication regimens and play a more active role in the self-management of their medical conditions.AimTo describe the effectiveness of the CSL Behring CARES PSP in optimising the quality use of SCIg in a hospital-free environment.DesignThis retrospective, observational study analysed records of patients enroled in the CSL Behring CARES PSP. Key outcomes were accessibility and effectiveness. Data were extracted from the patient database and analysed using descriptive methods.ResultsSeven hundred eighty-nine patients with PID (30.8%), SID (53.4%) and CIDP (15.8%) were enroled in the CARES PSP, 92.8% of whom were referred from public hospitals and the remaining from private hospitals. Of the total patient population, 697 (88.3%) received the nurse-led SCIg self-administration training and education (COACH), out of which 656 (94.1%) completed training and achieved competency after an average of 2.3 training sessions. The proportions of patients who achieved competency were similar across age groups and prior SCIg hospital education status.ConclusionThis is the largest real-world evidence study that describes the effectiveness of SCIg PSPs across three therapeutic disease states. These PSPs can optimise hospital resources such as infusion nurse time and allocation of infusion chairs that were once used for intravenous immunoglobulin infusions, improve patient access to SCIg therapy and enable patients self-administer SCIg outside a hospital environment.© 2024 The Author(s). Internal Medicine Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

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