A recent survey of more than 6,000 multiple sclerosis patients in the United States found that health insurance coverage can decide their access to disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), and that that coverage is worsening, leaving a good number struggling to be able to pay for their treatment. As an MS patient myself, I find…
Cost of treatment
Individual health insurance coverage largely determines a multiple sclerosis (MS) patient’s access to disease modifying drugs in the United States, mainly because of the rising costs of newer medications and near-annual changes in insurance policy coverage, usually making such coverage more restrictive, researchers report.  These twin problems often leave MS patients relying on suboptimal therapies rather than those…
A recent study analyzing the healthcare resource use and cost of H.P. Acthar Gel, an injectable drug used to manage multiple sclerosis (MS) relapse, demonstrated that the therapy is a viable alternative to plasmapheresis (PMP) and intravenous immunoglobin (IVIG). Annual direct healthcare costs encountered by MS patients in the U.S.
Clinical results presented at the recent Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP)‘s 2016 annual meeting in San Francisco showed that the use of H.P. Acthar Gel during multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses is associated with beneficial outcomes. The gel, according to its producer, is also available at a lower price than other frequently used…
The Co-Pay Relief program offered through the Patient Advocate Foundation has added a new financial assistance fund to its collection of resources for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The new fund is now available to financially eligible MS patients with health insurance coverage to support the costs of necessary treatment medicines. “Our case management department has been…
A new report, written jointly by the NHiS Commissioning Excellence and the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Trust, highlights the healthcare costs of emergency hospitalization of MS patients in the United Kingdom and points to more cost-effective and better ways to care for this patient population. The executive summary and full report are…
Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) College of Pharmacy and Oregon State University (OSU) at Corvallis, and Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Portland, Oregon, have documented an “alarming rise” over the last 20 years in the costs of drugs used to slow the progression of multiple sclerosis…
The Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib) developed a new purification method for pharmaceutical produced antibodies that promises to effectively decrease the high prices of these drugs in the market. Therapeutic antibodies revolutionized how doctors treat diseases affecting a large number of individuals, such as cancer and autoimmune…
Now more than ever, groundbreaking, new therapies for chronic diseases and infections come with high price tags. Earlier in the year, Gilead Sciences’ drug Sovaldi for Hepatitis C, as well as Vertex’s Kalydeco for Cystic Fibrosis, both raised eyebrows over their cost. Now, a new MS therapy is doing the…
The main costs of care for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients continue to be driven predominantly by common MS “sequelae” — a condition that is the consequence of a previous disease or injury — according to a recent study from the BMC Health Services Research. However, in spite of cost drivers remaining steady,…