Cost of Imbruvica and how long do I need to take it?

[Razor32]

Just getting ready to start. Imbruvica is very expensive is there a cheaper place to get the med.?

Do I take it the rest of my life?

[Smith123456]

what country do you live in?

[AussieNeil Administrator]

Hi Razor and welcome to our community.

I've combined your two questions into one and improved the title, so that you'll get more responses to your questions.

You haven't shared anything in your profile to help our community better help you. I presume you have a CLL diagnosis and this is your first treatment? Where you live affects what insurance, charity and from the supplier, compassionate support that may be available to you. There may also be an opportunity to join a clinical trial and have access to medication free of charge, but depending on the trial, you can expect to cover some other costs. There are of clinical trials for around 10 newer generation versions of Ibrutinib, plus there are combination treatment clinical trials still recruiting, where you only need treatment for 1 to 2 years. Otherwise maintenance treatment with Ibrutinib is indefinite - you take it as long as it remains effective in keeping your CLL under control, which for some who started on early trials, is approaching 10 years continuous use.

You can update your profile here: healthunlocked.com/profile/...

Also, you might get more replies if you make your post private to this community. This post explains the pros and cons: healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

Neil

[lankisterguy Volunteer]

Hi Razor32,-

If you are in the USA, and seeing a CLL expert doctor, the doctor and his/her staff will be the experts to answer both of your questions.

If you are over 65 and on Medicare there is one set of answers on cost, and if under 65 and on commercial insurance the answer is different.

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If you want to read more - start with this previous post:

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

read both of my answers to that post

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

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or insert this string into a standard Google search window:

site:healthunlocked.com cll support/ibrutinib+cost

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Also - on this page and all the other post pages, look for the box labeled "Related Posts" and that will list 5 other postings with similar titles.

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Len

[LeoPa]

How expensive exactly?

[Big_Dee in reply to LeoPa]

Hello LeoPa

Outright cost for ibrutinib is now 203,000.00 USD per year for life. As a side note the cost per year for 15,000 CLLers would be roughly 3.5 billion USD per year. Big bite out of any health insurance not counting the millions of other people on health insurance. Scary.

[LeoPa in reply to Big_Dee]

Thanks, yes. I was wondering how much Razor 32 had to pay.

[rcusher in reply to LeoPa]

I guess I should feel thankful I live in Ontario, Canada and I am over 65. My cost for Ibrutinib is covered by the government, my cost is $100 deductible per year and a $4.11 dispensing charge per month. I have been on Ibrutinib 3 years now and will gladly keep taking until it doesn't work anymore.

[estaff01]

I have been taking it for almost two years. If you have commercial insurance you can pay $10 thru the "You and I" program offered by manufacturer. If on medicare I find the best I can do is about 6000/year. There is financial assistance thro Janseen(spelling?) Check their website

[Hidden]

Hi Razor32!!!! Welcome. When I was prescribed Imbruvica nearly 5 years ago I was told I would have to take it for the rest of my life, and to think of it as blood pressure meds or diabetes treatment, all lifelong treatments. It is VERY expensive medication and I received help from PAN panapply.org/ plus I do get extra help from Social Security as well. When the doctor told me how much the Imbruvica costs I said, I can't afford that!!! and they said, nobody can, that's why we'll get you extra help. And they did that first year, after that I reapplied myself with help from the doctor's office staff. So, I hope Imbruvica works for you as well as it did for me. And try to get the extra help soon at PAN, the cut off date is very soon for this year. People on this site are very knowledgeable and can answer almost all your questions, and a lot of the questions that you will ask are on here already. Again. Welcome!!!! Lots of nice people on this site.

[skunkbay53]

Contact the PAN Foundation they give grants to help pay c-pays

[janvog in reply to skunkbay53]

Correct !

[BSMI]

I guess the cost must vary wildly depending on where you live? I’ve been on Imbruvica for 3 years here in Australia where it is covered by our national Medicare, so basically free. Over the year it averages about $4/month.

I really feel for some others I have read about, and hope they can find help from some of the terrific aid organisations I’ve read about here.