The MS Wire

News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis

Tag: MS drugs

What Can You do About Paying for MS Drugs?

multiple sclerosis expenses

If you’re having trouble paying for your MS drugs, you’re not alone. I regularly see social media posts from people whose insurance has changed or whose insurance company has suddenly dropped a medication from its formulary (the list of medications it will pay for). Or, it has decided that you must change from a brand name drug to a generic one. Sometimes the problem is that the person with MS…Continue Reading

Heavy-hitting #MS Drugs Step to the Plate

I’m sitting in Florida and the start of spring training is only about a month from now, so please forgive a baseball analogy: The heavy-hitters of the MS-fighting treatments, the monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), are moving up in the lineup. Five treatments currently are in the mAbs class: Ocrevus, Lemtrada, Rituxan, Tysabri, and Zinbryta. (Rituxan isn’t approved as an MS treatment in the United States. Nonetheless, it’s being prescribed off-label by some neurologists).…Continue Reading

Specialty Drugs Mean Specialty Prices

If you have MS, you’ve probably used a specialty drug. My first was Avonex, which I began to use about 1998. Several others followed. There’s no formal definition of a specialty drug, but these therapies have several things in common. First, they’re expensive. According to the vice president in charge of specialty drugs at CVS Pharmacy, the average monthly cost is $3,000. A CVS website article says that’s about 10…Continue Reading

Getting Help Paying for Your MS Drugs

With the recent approval of the multiple sclerosis drug Ocrevus, I’ve again heard the plea “but how can I afford it?” Ocrevus carries a price tag of about $65,000 a year. That’s not high compared to some other MS drugs, but it can still mean a higher co-pay than some patients with insurance can afford. And it can appear to be totally unaffordable for those without coverage. Unless you know…Continue Reading

Pills, shots or infusions for your MS?

[This first appeared as my column on www.multiplesclerosisnewstoday.com] Oral multiple sclerosis meds appear, more and more, to be the first choice of patients who are just beginning to receive an MS treatment. A recent report by the independent marketing research firm Spherix Global Insights shows that oral disease-modifying therapies captured a significantly higher share of the market at the end of 2016 compared to 2015.  Tecfidera was at the top of the…Continue Reading

Starting Down the Lemtrada Road

[This is an updated version of my column that first appeared on www.multiplesclerosisnewstoday.com] The final drip of my first week of Lemtrada infusions will drop in about 30 minutes.  The headline is: It was a good week with no significant problems or discomfort.  I’ll be writing about this experience, in detail, in my next column.  But first, for those who aren’t yet up to speed on my journey, some background.…Continue Reading