STI Enables AstraZeneca to Allow Ongoing Choice for NEXIUM®

NEXIUM® Prescription Benefit cards now made available online at nexiumsupport.ca

To view the Enriched Media Release, click here: http://smr.newswire.ca/en/sti/sti-enables-astrazeneca-to-allow-ongoing-choice-for

HALIFAX, Sept. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - Canadian pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca Canada Inc., has introduced a new NEXIUM® Patient Support program designed to give physicians and pharmacists the ability to take cost out of the equation in the patient's choice between NEXIUM® tablets and a generic esomeprazole product.

A prescription benefit program was implemented after a generic esomeprazole product was introduced into the Canadian market. Now, instead of patients being switched onto the generic product solely because of price differential, physicians and pharmacists can provide them with a prescription benefit smart card to bridge the financial gap and allow the choice to be made on what is right for the patient. To provide the broadest form of access to the program, a NEXIUM® website, www.nexiumsupport.ca, has been created to make electronic cards available for physicians and pharmacists to download and provide to patients.

Coincident with the prescription benefit program, AstraZeneca introduced an alternative sampling program, also based on STI's SmartTechnology platform.  With this solution, new patients being initiated on NEXIUM® tablets are provided with a sample smart card by their physician, which they present at their local retail pharmacy along with their prescription.  New patients then have the choice of continuing on with NEXIUM® tablets through the prescription benefit program.

The alternative sample and prescription benefit programs are currently available in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Ontario.

For questions or more information on the NEXIUM® Patient Support Programs please contact STI customer service by phone at 1-877-790-1991 ext. 2061 or ext. 2063.

About STI 
STI (www.smartsti.com) is a Halifax, N.S. based company that provides innovative healthcare marketing solutions across the lifecycle of pharmaceutical and device brands, using its SmartTechnology platform as the source of real-time transactional intelligence to allow all stakeholders - manufacturer, pharmacy, prescriber, and payer - to optimize their patient relationships.

About AstraZeneca Canada
AstraZeneca is committed to the research, development and manufacturing of valuable prescription medicines. We have an extensive product portfolio spanning six therapeutic areas: gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, infection, neuroscience, oncology and respiratory. AstraZeneca's Canadian headquarters are located in Mississauga, Ontario, and a state-of-the art drug discovery centre is based in Montreal, Quebec. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.astrazeneca.ca.

SOURCE STI (SAMPLING TECHNOLOGIES INC.)

Image with caption: "Nexium Prescription Benefit Card www.nexiumsupport.ca. (CNW Group/STI (SAMPLING TECHNOLOGIES INC.))". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20110909_C9777_PHOTO_EN_2993.jpg