Topic: Cost of Neulasta

Oct 28, 2010 10:09AM lago wrote:

I get my Neulasta shipped to me (with dry ice) from a special pharmacy my insurance uses (Blue Cross & Blue Shield of MA). My husband gives me the shot so I don't have to go back to the hospital. I think it's cheaper if you have it sent to you. I was told it was $3000 a shot. I have a $30 copay for it.

I do have to contact the special pharmacy everytime I need it to let them know they need to ship it out. They won't send it all at once. They send it for each treatment.

Oct 28, 2010 10:16AM deadlanguages wrote:

I'm thinking about doing the injections myself but I am a squeamish bitch. LOL! (Weirdly, I can give injections to other people - had to do it for my dad a  couple of times - but on myself? WIMP.)

Oct 28, 2010 10:40AM Fighter_34 wrote:

^^^^

I am doing the same thing Lago. It's too time consuming to come back the next day for the shot and too much of a drive. My copay is 30 as well.

Oct 28, 2010 12:42PM - edited Oct 28, 2010 03:17PM by lovemygarden

I have no insurance, and the cost of Neulasta was the main reason I opted to get Taxol instead of Taxotere. I could not have afforded the shots along with having to pay for everything else out of pocket!  Taxol doesn't trash your whitecells nearly as much as Taxotere does; most people on Taxol don't drop low enough to need Neulasta.  My counts held up beautifully over the 12 weeks of Taxol; they dropped a little during the last 4 weeks but not low enough to cause any concern. 

 Btw, Neupogen which is a similar drug is less expensive than Neulasta (though still not cheap). The main difference is that Neulasta is "turbo charged" so to speak, and only needs one dose per treatment, whereas Neupogen has to be administered as multiple daily shots given over 3-4 days in succession.

Because Neulasta is a biologic drug (like Herceptin is) it will probably never (because of current FDA rules) have a generic version, and so the cost of it will probably never come down from the current stratospheric levels. Ironically there are generic versions in Europe but not here. Neupogen is also a biologic but with some differences. Interesting article here about the legal squabble over a generic ("biosimilar") version of Neupogen: www.gabionline.net/Biosimilars...

As always, it's the patients who get the short end of the needle, er, stick!

p.s. to deadlanguages: I see you are in NY; be aware that your oncology costs are going to be higher at a hospital facility than at an oncologist's office because NY State slaps a surcharge on any service performed at a hospital. For an uninsured person it's 9.63%. For an insurance company it's almost 29%. This is one reason why health insurance premiums in NY are higher than in many other states. 

Oct 29, 2010 06:52PM nene2059 wrote:

My Neulasta shots were $5000/injection and I got them at my onc's office after every chemo so that was 8x.  Astronomical pricing!  I will tell you though that by the time of the first chemo treatment, which I had before surgery, I had already met my deductible and out of pocket because of all of the testing for diagnosis so I did not pay for any of it which was a true blessing. I have Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina and they were actually great (which I was not expecting from an insurance company) BUT even with a low deductible and out of pocket max it was a financial strain.  My onc never told me about doing them myself but I think that is a great option and would have preferred it to heading back to the office theday after chemo.  Some options I do know about is to contact every pharmaceutical company about every drug you have to take and they all have free or low cost programs.  If you do have insurance and do not feel that they are covering enough or being unreasonable about a charge..APPEAL, APPEAL, APPEAL.  They have to take it to their medical board and those dr.'s will deem it as medically necessary.  I had to do it for one test and they paid for it.  Good luck and try to get a copy of Cancer (or is it Caring for Cancer?) Magazine's yearly resource edition, every onc's office should have copies of the mag in their waiting room.  This edition is a great way to find out how to get assistance with paying for treatments. The yearly subscription to the mag is also free.  Best wishes.

Oct 30, 2010 07:44AM Claire_in_Seattle wrote:

One of the reasons I opted to do the SWOG study as Neulasta was negotiated as part of the deal.  So mine was supplied gratis by Amgen.  I did the injections myself into my abdomen.  Had no problem finding an appropriate place.

Basically took 30 seconds of my time once I remembered to take out of the fridge and warm up to room temperature.  Because you don't want to inject cold.

Worst part was knowing that I was going to wake up on Day 3 feeling achy, but thougth well worth it as I could eat whatever I wanted except for obvious things like sushi and steak tartare.

I didn't get sick once throughout the whole chemo period and was even fine with a dental mishap.

My white cell counts remained normal throughout the entire period, and I didn't get neutropenia.  So it really did its job.  This was through 6 AC and 6 Taxol.