Help for the cost of medicine. Lets face it, treating MS, and for that matter, any disease is not a cheap thing. And many people describe me as being cheap (I prefer thrifty) so paying for these medicines "hurts" me especially when it changes cost after I made my FSA election. But in reality, it isn't that bad because we have insurance and my husband works. But for some people, the cost of the medicine is too much of a burden and so they don't take it. Almost every thing I have read suggests that taking the disease-modifying (DM) drugs for relapsing-remitting MS sooner rather than later is a VERY good thing if you are able to do it. But to be held back from doing this because of the cost is so upsetting to me. But I read in my Momentum magazine that the drug companies want to help. Every DM drug has some sort of assistance program. How cool is that? So at least there is hope of some sort of financial assistance in paying for these drugs. It is not a forever thing in most cases, but it is a help. Here are the contact #s for each of the drugs to see if you qualify for any assistance (as copied from the Momentum Magazine):
Avonex (Biogen Idec) - 1-800-456-2255 Novantrone (Serono) - 1-877-447-3243
Betaseron (Bayer) - 1-877-836-5724 Rebif (Serono) - 1-877-447-3243
Copaxone (Teva) - 1-800-887-8100 Tysabri (Biogen Idec) - 1-800-456-2255
A summary of all of these programs was in the last issue of Momentum, the magazine by the National MS Society. Here is the link to go to this article where I got the information above http://www.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=HOM_LIB_momentum. The spring 2008 issue is the one with the information I summarized above. It is in the Healthy Living section.
Hope this is helpful.
Kristin
Kristin - thanks so much for adding this to our site. I am hoping this can be the information people have been waiting for to help them get the medications they need.
I also am providing a link to our Medications for MS section. Thought it might be helpful to folks out there.
All the best - sue
Kristin, it is very kind of you to post the contact information for each of the drug company-sponsored assistance programs. However, it really is not as easy to qualify for assistance as you might think. In my situation, I was expected to pay for 50% of Copaxone in addition to $200 shipping/handling for one year. The amount which NORD determined I could <i>afford</i> to pay equaled almost 40% of my AGI. It wasn't until I earned less (I'm self-employed) and earned less than 200% federal poverty level which NORD determined I qualified for full assistance.
It becomes crazy when one realizes that an AGI of 200% fpl for a single individual is less than the annual cost for each of the MS self-injectable meds and that's what it takes to get help.
Lisa,
I am sorry to hear that Teva didn't work out for you for some relief of the insurance copay. I had read the article in the Momentum Magazine and thought it was worthwhile to share for people who don't know (like me). I have to say that the Serono program (Rebif) has worked out well for me thus far. They contacted ME! before I even read about the program.
I took Avonex for a long time. I started in back in 1998, before any of these programs or any of the MS Lifelines, etc. came out. I met my pharmacist when I went to fill the prescription. He looked at the script and said I was the first one at the pharmacy to have it filled. Then he asked if I had any questions. My reply was - "When are they coming out with a pill." We have become very good acquantances from that point on. Back then, that first year, I think I paid $175 every 4 weeks. Again it was new(ish) and the insurance companies didn't know what to make of it. (And probably my company's plan at the time wasn't that great either.)
If you ever have to switch medications, the Serono program is $50 max. Any amount greater than $50 out of pocket is reimbursed by Serono for the first year. I think that is how it works. All I know is I received a 3-months supply for $300 but then I miracleously got a second bill saying I only owed $150 which sounded pretty good to me :-).
Good luck with the Copaxone and I hope the insurance thing gets better. Thanks for sharing. It is always good (well you know what I mean) to hear what works in the real world.
Kristin