Potential patient preference for 3-day treatment of bacterial vaginosis: Responses to new suppository form of clindamycin

Abstract

Treatment options for bacterial vaginosis (BV) include oral and topical formulations of metronidazole or topical formulations of clindamycin. Opinions of a new vaginal suppository form of clindamycin, administered for 3 days, were obtained in a survey of 96 women who had been generally satisfied with their previous treatment. Following manipulation of the clindamycin ovule and metronidazole vaginal gel, more respondents expressed a preference for the ovule (52% vs 47%), and 54% preferred the ovule to the gel (44%) for possible future use. The gel was rated easier to use, but the ovule was found to be less messy. After manipulating both products, respondents read a profile of the ovule and identified the 3-day course as its most beneficial feature, citing this reason as increasing their likelihood of completing therapy with the ovule than with the gel. Approximately three fourths of the respondents who initially preferred the gel switched their preference to the ovule after reading the product profile. At that point, 86.5% of all respondents preferred the ovule. These results suggest the potential for improved compliance with therapy for BV with the clindamycin ovule.