Why should Medicare pay for Lucentis?
The U.S. Senate wants to know why Medicare should have to spend millions on Genentech's eye drug Lucentis when the company's Avastin works almost as well against macular degeneration--and costs lots less.
Last week, Genentech said it would cut compounding pharmacists out of the Avastin loop. The move would complicate dispensing the cancer med to macular degeneration patients because compounding pharmacists repackage the cancer drug for ophthalmic use. A vial of Avastin for the eye costs $40 or so, compared with $2,000 for Lucentis.
In a letter to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a Senate committee demanded to know how much the agency has spent on Lucentis and Avastin. And it wonders whether the center has considered how much it might save by using cheaper, alternative drugs--like Avastin. Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health is pitting the two drugs against each other in a trial with macular degeneration patients.
- read the the item from the Wall Street Journal's Health Blog
Related Articles:
Genentech to curb Avastin sales. Report
Doctors balancing effects, costs of Lucentis and Avastin. Report
Lucentis gets the green light from regulators. Report
Genentech's Lucentis improves vision in trial. Report
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Comments
By Anonymous | Posted 3:23pm | October 30, 2007
As someone who is familiar with both drugs there is a reason Lucentis is better than Avastin for the treatment of Wet-AMD. Avastin is for cancer and has not been bio-engineered to stay in the eye so the effectiveness is less than that of Lucentis. It's true that some patient's respond well to Avastin but many more also end up having Lucentis further down the road as the Avastin did not do as well as expected. Avastin is not approved for Ocular use and Lucentis was specifically bio-enginered for ocular use and tested for efficacy and side effects before being FDA approved, Avastin has not. They aren't the exact same drug with a different name and a new label. The Avastin is also being re-packaged by pharmacies into smaller doses and the FDA has expressed concern re this due to patient's developing eye infections possibly due to the re-packaging. Lucentis is a single dose vial so there is no re-packaging involved thereby lessening the chance of developing an eye infection.
I believe both drugs should be available for use and strongly suspect most MD's would agree.
If it were my eyes I'd use Lucentis and seek co-pay assistance through the manufacturer if my insurance would not cover the entire cost.
By Anonymous | Posted 6:07pm | March 17, 2008
Co-pay assistance is a farce. We've applied for copay assistance, and after nearly 3months, ALL of our patients were denied! Should you wait and see or should you mortgage your home when there is something almost as good that is available? The previous comment clearly has interest in genentech and not reality.
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