‘The best drugs do not work … on patients who do not take them ’ is  a well-known quote by Dr Koop, the former US Surgeon-General, and which sums up the problem of compliance. In countries that can afford to make the latest medical treatments  available to their population, non-compliance, which we define as medications not taken, taken on an irregular basis, taken at the wrong dosage, or after a lapse of several days, etc, constitutes a common phenomenon often overlooked beyond research circles.