Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prescription refills for immune-mediated inflammatory disorders: a time series analysis (January 2019 to January 2021) using the English Prescribing Dataset.

Findings potentially present lower rates of adherence because of the pandemic, suggesting barriers to care access. Unit price increases are likely to have severe budget impacts in the UK and potentially globally. Timely prescription refills for patients taking immunosuppressive/immunomodulatory therapies are recommended. Healthcare professionals should identify patients on these medicines and assess their prescription-day coverage, with planned actions to flag and follow-up adherence concerns in patients.