Woman can now buy cancer drug at cost

From the Halifax Chronicle Herald:
A Guysborough County woman will now be able to buy Avastin at cost from an Antigonish hospital, saving about $400 per dose compared to what she originally paid for the cancer drug.

She and her husband hope others will get the same benefits and that Nova Scotia will eventually pay for the pricey treatment.

Marlene George, 47, was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer a year ago and has been taking Avastin and having chemotherapy for 10 months.

Her husband Blair George said that in getting the drug at cost they’ve won a battle but not the war.

"We’re not special people here," he said Friday. "This has got to be something for everybody for the short term, and in the long term, my fight is for the government to pay for it."

The late Jim Connors, a lawyer, former Dartmouth city councillor and cancer patient, led a strong lobby urging the province to fund the colorectal cancer treatment which he could afford but others could not. ...more

When an orphan drug is a patient's only hope

From the Globe and Mail:
Denise Halpenny's biggest fear is losing use of her left hand when she quits taking the drug for multiple sclerosis that she can no longer afford.

She and her husband Scott, a high school teacher, have struggled with the possibility. They've decided that if her hand goes, the mother of three will have to leave their family home here and move into a long-term care facility.

Multiple sclerosis, which struck Halpenny in 1986, has already robbed her of her ability to walk and taken away use of her right arm.

"Things will change dramatically for me," she said, fighting to hold back tears.

What frustrates the 49-year-old as much as the disease are bureaucratic rules that mean she has to come up with the money for the drug Zenapax, although the cost is equivalent to other MS drugs that are covered by the province. ...more

Druggist takes on province

From the Toronto Star:
Toronto pharmacist Chaim Wrightman took his fight with the Ontario health ministry to Superior Court yesterday, in a case with potential impact on how the elderly receive medication.

The battle started over pill packs, those cases with individual compartments for medication prescribed by a doctor and divided by the pharmacist into daily and weekly doses. In Ontario, most users of the packs are covered under the Ontario Drug Benefit Program.

While the battle started over pill packs, it has now escalated into a fight over the pharmacist's right to bill under the massive drug benefit plan that costs Ontario $3 billion a year.

Wrightman had wanted to keep dispensing the packs and being paid for it. The Ontario government first tried to stop him in 2007 by ordering him to reimburse $250,000 in dispensing fees on pill packs over seven years. ...more

MD: ‘So far, so good’ on Pharmacare

From the Halifax Chronicle Herald:
A Halifax doctor says the province’s month-old family Pharmacare program has helped some of her patients get the drugs they need.

"So far, so good," rheumatologist Dr. Dianne Mosher said Wednesday.

Nova Scotia has the highest prevalence of arthritis in Canada.

Earlier this year, Arthritis Consumer Experts, a national education organization for people with the inflammatory joint disease, gave the province a C-minus grade for access to medically necessary treatments.

But the family drug program, which began March 1, is meant to help the 30 per cent of Nova Scotians who have no private drug insurance afford the medications they need. ...more

Dying for drugs

From the Charlottetown (PEI) Guardian:
Many sick Islanders are paying a very heavy price for poor provincial drug coverage — some the ultimate one.

P.E.I. drug programs only cover a small portion of the population: seniors, low-income families and those with one of the province’s “selected diseases.’’

There is a large gap of people, notably many that fall between the ages of 40 and early 60s, that don’t qualify for any of the drug programs, says Pat Crawford, pharmacy consultant with the Department of Health and Social Services and Seniors.

Many sick Islanders, Crawford said, likely make the decision not to take a helpful medication because they have insufficient coverage or none at all.

Asked about the potential fallout, he said: “They can get sicker.’’

And even die more quickly?

“That is correct — and that is likely happening now,’’ he said. ...more

N.S. premier encourages residents to enrol in new prescription drug plan

From the Amherst (NS) Daily News:
Nova Scotians living without prescription drug coverage are being encouraged to enrol in a provincial plan at no cost.

Rodney MacDonald launched the family pharmacare program Monday.

Individuals and their families are invited to enrol in the universal drug plan with no premiums or fees.

The program will cap annual out-of-pocket costs for eligible drugs at a percentage of a family’s income.

For example, a family of four with combined income of $25,000 and annual drug costs of $1,000, will only have to pay $440 through family pharmacare coverage. ...more

Pharmacare to cover 120 more generic drugs

From the Winnipeg Free Press:
The Manitoba government will add 120 new generic drugs to be covered under Manitoba's Pharmacare Program , Health Minister Theresa Oswald said Thursday.

The decision, effective March 19, means the province will save about $4 million a year as these generic drugs will replace more costly prescription medication. The province already covers more than 1,950 drugs under the Pharmacare system. For a complete list of approved drugs go to www.gov.mb.ca/health/mdbif/.

Pharmacare assists patients with the cost of prescription drugs by covering all bills for them after an income-based deductible.

In a release Oswald said the generic drug cost savings are substantial. For example, generic blood pressure medication Ramipril costs about half as much as prescription drug Altace; Altace costs about $33.60 a month while Ramipril only $19.95.

Tory health critic Kelvin Goertzen said the province could save even more money be creating a speedier approval process for generic drugs -- drugs already approved by Health Canada. ...more

Out-of-pocket costs vary widely by province for seniors

From the Globe and Mail:
Technically, every Canadian aged 65 or older is covered by a provincial drug plan, but the out-of-pocket costs paid by seniors for prescription drugs vary wildly between provinces, new research shows.

For example, a 65-year-old single woman on a government pension who suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure and is being treated with four prescription drugs pays only $8 for the medication in Ontario but $503 in Manitoba.

Similarly, a 73-year-old married man with an above-average income taking five drugs to treat heart failure pays $60 for the prescription medicine in New Brunswick and $1,332 in Manitoba.

"Given differences in reimbursement according to age, income level, marital status and province of residence, drug reimbursement in Canada is manifestly unequal," said Louise Pilote with the divisions of general internal medicine and clinical epidemiology at McGill University Health Centre in Montreal. ...more

Drug approval strategy needed

From the Saskatoon Star Phoenix:
There should be no surprise at the fact that Premier Brad Wall has apparently decided to cover the cancer drug Avastin under the provincial drug plan.

After all, in Opposition the Saskatchewan Party went to great lengths to portray the former NDP administration as a heartless bunch of penny-pinchers for refusing to do it.

The Saskatchewan Party can hardly do otherwise than to follow through and cover Avastin now that it's in government.

Health Minister Don McMorris's confirmation that a final decision will be announced this month brings the new government full circle on the "patient-a-day" political strategy his party pursued in Opposition. ...more

Pharmacists happy NDP drug plan dead

From the Saskatoon Star Phoenix:
A day after the provincial election, the Pharmacists Association of Saskatchewan is relieved it won't have the headache of dealing with the NDP's proposed universal drug plan.

"We're much relieved that the planned $15 co-pay that Lorne Calvert came out with will not be going forward," said Brett Filson, executive director of PAS. "(Saskatchewan Party Leader) Brad Wall made that clear early on in the election campaign."

Any major changes to the drug plan cause problems for pharmacists, he said.

"Pharmacists have to explain the changes to every patient every time, month after month," Filson said. "We try and instil that reminder to the government every opportunity we get: 'Do anything you want, but remember who has to explain it.' " ...more

Drug body's advice against provinces paying for MS drugs seen as unfair

From the Canadian Press:
An expert panel's advice that provinces and territories not cover the cost of two Multiple Sclerosis drugs creates a system of two-tiered care, MS advocates say.

They view the recommendation as leaving people with the disease, who don't have private drug insurance, unable to afford medication that could slow progression of the condition and ease the pain they suffer.

Late last month, the Common Drug Review advised that governments not put the MS pain medication Sativex on the list of medicines that provincial and territorial drug plans cover for eligible people. That follows a "do not list" recommendation issued in the spring for Tysabri, a drug that slows progression of the disease.

Those decisions put these drugs out of reach for many people with MS, an expert and a spokesperson for the MS Society argue. ...more

NDP drug plan will lead way for rest of Canada: Calvert

It sounds like prescription drug coverage will be a big issue in the upcoming Saskatchewan election. I don't know how a universal $15 copay could possibly be sustainable over the long term. Perhaps the only way is to greatly restrict the list of eligible drugs. Of course, this begs the question, if you have a great copay but your drug isn't covered, what good is your plan? I'd rather see a percentage instead of a flat copay. This creates a bit of price awareness and creates an incentive for the patient to at least be thinking about cost.

From the Saskatoon Star Phoenix:
NDP Leader Lorne Calvert threw down the gauntlet over his party's promise of a universal drug plan Tuesday, casting the Nov. 7 election as a fight over fundamental principles.

Responding to what he said was "not unexpected" criticism that has been levelled since the plan was unveiled on the first day of the campaign, Calvert framed the debate as a rerun of the battle over the introduction of medicare by the CCF governments of Tommy Douglas and Woodrow Lloyd in the 1960s.

"Each time we've tried to extend universal benefits through medicare there's been criticism. It tends to come from the same source every time. It's coming from the right wing, it's coming from the Sask. Party. That's not surprising. This is not a single issue campaign but obviously this is one of our key visions for the future of Saskatchewan and if, I may say, for the future of Canada," Calvert told reporters after a rally at his campaign headquarters.

The NDP government introduced a seniors' prescription drug plan in this spring's budget at an annual cost of $53 million. Making that program universal and capping prices at $15 per prescription for all Saskatchewan residents will cost the government $150 million at the start, growing to $205 million by 2011-12. ...more