If true, this is more than alarming !!
medpagetoday.com/special-re...
What have folks here paid for this ?
$150K for Xtandi/enzalutimide???? - Prostate Cancer N...
$150K for Xtandi/enzalutimide????
Written by
maley2711
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42 Replies
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This is a result of bad voting patterns by older mostly males but also females who vote for polls who support the right of corporations to legally purchase legislation and legislators handing out their largess though lobbying firm's staffed with a revolving door of ex-legislators.
One way or another we pay for this.... mostly because old folks feel the need to vote for illiberal polls.
Whatever the reasons, have you faced such a bill for PCa drugs?
The insurance companies typically absorb most but not all the cost, then distribute the burden amongst us all... for those that have insurance.
And they often engage in denial and allocation.
It's in some way sort of fair. Those age demographics who chose to vote based upon hate and xenophobia, by and large reap the cost and healthcare denial caused by those voting choices.
It's generally a good thing that people reap the consequences of their decisions. Though in this case a lot of innocents get caught up in the impact.
Unfortunately, many of the bad actor voters misapprehend themselves as innocent victims.
The same people actively fighting attempts to stop manmade climate change.
There are many avenues for you. I am on Medicare + United Health Supplemental. Lately I have found Good Rx at Publix, Kroger, Costco (location dependent to be the least expensive). The Pharmaceutical company may offer you a hardship free to inexpensive. Zytiga/Abiraterone has been out longer and is now offered as generic version less expensive. Plus a few others that others will tell you about. NO ONE THAT I KNOW OF EVER PAYS FULL RETAIL. I pay $222/mo for Zytiga at Publix grocery/pharma. Best,
Mike
$13k a month for Erleada/apalutimide. Luckily my insurance covers it.
Everyone has the option to order xtandi from India. It's much cheaper.
Basically, what's the difference in cost?
How does one go about ordering it from India?
Search Google for ( prescription drug costs in India ) to find sources and prices.
I have not logged into IndiaMart recently to compare prices. Use the IndiaMart mobile app and search for xtandi. You will see multiple prices.
As I understand it, we are breaking the law when we order prescription drugs from outside the U.S., and in theory we could go to jail for it. I've read that the reason we get away with it isn't because it's legal, but because no sane prosecutor would put an old person with a serious illness in front of a jury and demand that he or she be punished.
Alan
There are real risks.
We lose one layer of quality control.
The manufacturer / supplier knows that. And it creates a great deal of moral hazard that can kill you.
How many drugs does China supply?
I think India and China supply a whole lot of our pharmaceuticals.
Yes they do. I worked for 14 years in a company that manufactured pharmaceuticals.
So what do you think the risks are of buying pharmaceuticals off the internet from anonymous vendors who may or may not be selling counterfeit pharmaceuticals?
How does one perform a quality assurance test after taking delivery?
Testing by a quality control lab would need to be performed and one would need a verified chain of control to ensure that the 'whatever " was from the same batch and not comingled.
Quality Assurance departments usually review data and batch records, which are legal documents, kept during the manufacturing process. For instance, were temperature parameters maintained? When an addition of a chemical was made to a batch was the exotherm it caused controlled?
You, as a citizen, will not have access to these documents or test results of the raw materials used or results of testing at different stages of the manufacturing process. The FDA will though! Should the FDA arrive for an unannounced inspection they have the right to review all documents pertaining to the manufacturing process from beginning to end.
Quality control has chemists that do testing to show that the product does what it is supposed to as well as stability tests to determine shelf life. Testing by QC begins with final equipment rinse testing to ensure that the equipment chain is clean. Every raw material is also tested.
The best that you can do is purchase from reliable sources. I have no idea what a lab might charge but I do have an idea of the cost of establishing a lab with the equipment and personnel needed. I would not wish to pay out of my pocket to have one pill or capsule analyzed.
Oh yes! I didn't mention--the directors of those two departments each are allowed to select a vehicle such as an Audi, Chevy Tahoe, Volvo or whatever is on the list as a perk. Yes indeed--the cost to analyze one pill--hmm?
That's the problem of buying pharmaceuticals from unregulated over the internet overseas strangers.
Why would they not sell you counterfeit pharmaceuticals?
Actually they should.
If they don't the next guy will get your order instead with their lower cost counterfeit.
A 60 Minutes segment years ago. Chinese counterfeit ED pills--whatever brand is yellow were made from gypsum sourced from water damaged drywall and pressed into shape of the pill. They needed color, yellow. They found surplus, yellow road striping pint in 55 gallon drums. They used it to paint the pills! The Chinese still added lead to their road marking paints to make it more durable and--ahh 'last longer'---ahhh--also for the pills--new meaning for "lead in your pencil"??
Nubeqa is manufactured in Finland.
There are members on this forum that have ordered from India. You may be right but since big pharma bribes Congress to allow them to screw us I'm not going to feel bad about it.
Not saying I wouldn't do it.
It's just that you might end up with some bad chit.
The brand names from India are the same as here in the US.
So they are made by the very same companies in the very same plants?
That would be comforting if it were both true and verifiable.
But you run into the same problem you have with many supplements. How do you really what's in the darn pill?
If you buy from let's say a Canadian pharmacy, you at least have a responsable regulator keeping an eye on things. Buying online from India, you don't really know who you are dealing with or what you are dealing with.
Do you?
The choice is yours. I would trust sources in India.
LoL
Why would you trust an anonymous website for anything... Starting with where it claims to be located?
1. You don't know where it is located. The server can be and is anywhere
2. Service reps can be and are anywhere.
3. The owner is ... who the heck knows. Some anonymous corporation.
4. The product is manufactured where exactly? By whom exactly? To what standards of quality exactly? You don't know and can't know.
5. Amazon, which exercises some level of Quality Assurance, can't stop vendors from selling counterfeit Hanes Tshirts or MicroSD memory.
You have no basis to trust anything.
Faith based pharmaceutical acquisition?
It's risk taking. Maybe it's reasonable risk taking.
But you can't even verify what you receive is or is not talcum powder.
Maybe it makes more sense to fly out there and buy from a store front pharmacy?????
Then I guess you're stuck paying outrageous prices here in the US.
An imperfect world.
Also if arrested,convicted and jailed then the medication is supplied free.
+++! )) If there is no money for treatment, then you have to go to jail!))
Have you any knowledge of the common price for Xtandi here ?
I don't have a current price. You will have to go on a mobile app for that.
AlanMeyerModerator
There's a very good book titled "The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It" by Dr. Marcia Angell, Dr. Angell was formerly the editor of "The New England Journal of Medicine", arguably one of the top medical journals in the world.
The book was published in 2004. I read it in 2006. Looking back at it, I can't see that it had any effect whatsoever on drug prices. The drug companies are still following the policy of "your money or your life" - a policy that no other advanced country allows.
A few things I learned from that book are:
Drug companies do not do nearly as much research as they used to. They buy drug patents from universities where medical research is done, and from start-up drug development companies, each formed to develop a great drug and then sell the drug, or very often the whole company, to big pharma. The drug companies take significant risks, but a lot less than we imagine.
A great part of the cost of drugs goes to sales. Think of the numbers of ads you see on TV for all sorts of drugs. Another significant part goes for lobbying. If I remember correctly there is an average of around one drug company lobbyist for each member of the House of Representatives or Senate and much is spent on campaign contributions, typically to both Republicans and Democrats. And of course more and more of the costs go into profits. Drug prices, even for drugs that have been on the market for decades (like insulin) and paid off their research costs many years ago, keep rising in prices. The price rise is often due to monopolies on drugs not just by patent ownership, but by buying up the small manufacturers and then dominating the market.
Many of the drugs sold in other countries are developed or manufactured in the United States but sold elsewhere for much less than in the U.S. If the prices of drugs in Canada, the U.K., France, or elsewhere were such that the pharma companies would lose money by selling them, then they wouldn't sell them. The companies, after all, aren't in the business to improve the health of the world. They're in the business of improving health in order to make money.
I know that I'm ranting here, but this is a topic that particularly sets me off. Capitalism has some great benefits for our country but also has some great costs. We need regulation, like every other advanced country in the world, in order get the benefits and reduce the terrible costs.
Alan
"Republicans and Democrats"
They are not equally responsible.
One party has an ideology of free market for the little guy selling labor, and protected markets with little or no competition for corporations.
Guess which one. Lol
Believe it or not, here in the USA some be able to get this treatment for little to no cost directly from the pharmaceutical company. Especially if one is uninsured ...
I'm on Xtandi. The list price is $12K per month; for me after insurance, the price is $6500 until I reach my deductible. I'm 59 and on private/employer insurance. Astellas does have a patient assistance program but it has limitations and many times the pharmacy filler does not process it correctly for your benefit. The assistance program provides a "debit card" to offset purchases up to $7K per year (Note: until April 1, this limit was $25K, Astellas lowered this limit without any notice). The assistance program deliberately uses a debit card, so that the payment credit will count towards the individual's annual deductible and have a longer out-of-pocket reduction for the individual for the rest of the year. However, many pharmacy fillers, specifically Express Scripts/Accredo for me, do not properly credit the debit card charges towards my annual deductible resulting in only a reduced one-time expense and no reduction in my deductible limit. In my case, after attempting to correct with Accredo billing, I paid for the next month (March) out of pocket and submitted receipts to the Assistance Program for direct reimbursement. This is when I found out that the annual limit was reduced from $25K to $7K. Even though I submitted my claim before March 31, it was rejected in April, I am appealing through the Assistance Program for one last month of coverage/reimbursement in order to cover my out-of-pocket expense and reach my deductible. All of this is necessary because Accredo does not credit the debit card payment as a payment from the individual. In discussions with the assistance program, this is the very reason why they went to a debit card process. The assistance program is great. I am hopeful they will get a waiver from Astellas to process my March re-reimbursement, it was submitted before the program changes and solely due to Accredo's incorrect processing of my January and February purchases. Astellas should audit Accredo for incorrect billing as it relates to this assistance program. (Astellas or your assistance program: feel free to direct message me if you require more information related to the Accredo's billing). Maley2711 realize that you may not be on private employer insurance, I know that the program, like many other programs, has some sort of exclusion for Medicare, so this assistance program may not apply to your case. Go to xtandi.com to see details on the program.
Nubeqa is $150,000 a year but medicare covers 95% of that.
Medicare drug plan?
To save money on drugs..... Just tie a thin string on your tablets, swallow them whole when needed then pull them back up for re-use.
Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.
j-o-h-n Saturday 04/09/2022 7:43 PM DST
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