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Remicade vs Inflectra

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Posted 3/22/2021 2:29 PM (GMT 0)
Has anyone switched from Remicade to Inflectra. United Healthcare no longer covers Remicade but cover Inflectra. I have always been on Remicade (9 years) and I am a little nervous being told I have to switch.
Posted 3/22/2021 7:39 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Top of the Mountain. Over the years there has been members here that were switched by their insurance to Inflecta. The reason is it's much cheaper. Inflectra is a biosimilar to Remicade & works pretty much the same way. It seems that the members in the past did ok with the switch. It's administered the same way as Remicade, same protocol. I understand the concern, others before you had the same ones. Go to their website & read up on it & they do offer a patient assistant program that can help with the copays.

Take care.
Posted 3/22/2021 8:39 PM (GMT 0)
Another question is if Remicade's Remistart program (or Jannsen Carepath or whatever it is) will cover the cost of the medication in its entirety since you do still have insurance.
Posted 4/9/2021 1:42 AM (GMT 0)
Hi. I just got notified that Cigna will no longer be covering my Remicade infusions. Ugh! I’ve been on it for over 10 yrs. and I love their copay assistance program. I’m waiting on a response from my doctor for the ok to switch over. Then I’ll start the process with their copay program. Why do insurance companies dictate the meds we put in our bodies? I’m nervous Inflectra won’t help. Anyone have issues?
Posted 4/22/2021 4:44 PM (GMT 0)
Two years ago my new insurance company refused to cover Remicade even though I had been on it for over a decade and I knew for a fact that they had other patients taking it. We appealed multiple times and my doctor submitted evidence that biosimilars are not the same as Remicade, but we lost. I made the decision not to take the biosimilar and have been off medication since March 2019. Luckily I've been doing very off meds.
Posted 5/18/2021 6:45 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Buterflygirl

Same thing here. actually in the chair now getting my last remicade before i switch to inflectra per the lovely people at Cigna who made the call to not cover remicade. I am so annoyed with this as I have been doing well on remicade
Posted 6/21/2021 3:38 PM (GMT 0)
I have had my second infusion of Inflectra and unfortunately I am not doing as well with it as I did with Remicade. Waiting on Results for Infliximab level test to determine course of action before next infusion in August. Feeling very frustrated!
Posted 8/17/2021 6:48 PM (GMT 0)
I have to make the switch as well from Remicade w/ United Healthcare. Please let us know how it goes.
Posted 1/22/2022 7:58 PM (GMT 0)
I was forced to switch from Remicade to Inflectra at my September infusion. I was livid that a medicine I had been on for 18 years, and was working well, could just be randomly switched by Cigna. I started having joint pain again, (which I had started experiencing about 8 years ago and it was managed very well by adjusting the dose of my Remicade) and blood tests confirmed my inflammation markers are through the roof. Just went to a rheumatologist a few days ago; he told me his patients were forced to switch from Remicade to Inflectra as well! So now I am having to see another specialist and take more meds because Cigna wanted to save a few bucks. So how does that really amount to any savings? Even though Remicade and Inflectra are biosimilars, they are not the same.
Anyone else having this issue? Thanks for listening to my rant.
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