Unfortunately Lialda discontinued their patient co-pay assistance card, and that has made the out-of-pocket costs of Lialda very expensive!
As Susie says, there is now a generic of Shire's Lialda that's called Mesalamine DR by Zydus pharmaceuticals ( link with details you can bring to your pharmacy
www.zydususa.com/product-details/?id=307). You can see if your pharmacy will fill the generic instead and your health insurance might have a much, much cheaper copay for a generic versus a brandname.
I have a much longer post I'll paste below that talks about
other equivalent brands of mesalamine that still have patient copay assistance cards available (similar to the former Lialda one) and that be affordable for you. Do your homework and I am sure you can find a more cost effective solution that enables you to take your daily medications without as much worry!
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One of the biggest headaches with health insurance policies is you might have to change medications. Here's a basic survival guide to help you through it.
1.) Ask which mesalamine medications are on the insurance's
formulary (preferred) list and which are on their
non-formulary (not preferred) list. For the lowest out-of-pocket cost, choose from the formulary list.
2.)
Generics are the most cost effective.
Brandnames are more expensive.
3.) Use the health insurance's price estimator tool (online insurance website, or call insurance, or ask a pharmacy) to learn what your copay will be. You will need to know which medications are applicable. The most common meds used are the anti-inflammatory, mesalamine-based medications that should be available in their price estimator:
- Apriso is brandnamed, comes in 375mg pills, a typical dose is 1,500 mgs or 4 pills daily. A copay assistance card is available from the manufacturer www.aprisorx.com/apriso/savings-card.
- Balsalazide Disodium is generic of Colazal, comes in 750mg pills, a typical dose is 6,750mgs or 9 pills daily.
- Colazal is brandnamed, comes in 750mg pills, a typical dose is 6,750mgs or 9 pills daily.
- Delzicol is brandnamed, comes in 400mg pills, a typical dose is 4,800 mgs or 12 pills daily. A copay assistance card is available from the manufacturer www.delzicol.com/resources/savings-card/
- Lialda/Mezavant is brandnamed, comes in 1,200mg pills, a typical dose is 4,800 mgs or 4 pills daily. A copay assistance card is NO LONGER available from the manufacturer, discontinued on 11/1/2017 and will not be renewed into the next year.
- Mesalamine DR is generic, comes in 800mg pills (generic Asacol HD) and 1200mg pills (generic Lialda), a typical dose is 4,800mgs. That's 8 of the 800mg pills or 4 of the 1,200mg pills daly.
- Pentasa is brandnamed, comes in 500mg pills, a typical dose is 4,000 mgs or 8 pills daily. A copay assistance card is available from the manufacturer /www.shire.com/patients/patient-services/shire-cares.
- Sulfasalazine is a generic,comes in 500mg pills, a typical dose is 4,000mgs or 8 pills daily.
4.) Once you've found a cost effective medication, call your gasteroenteroligist for a new prescript
ion.
5.) Mail order prescript
ions may have lower copays when you get a 90 day supply, instead of a 30 day supply. Check with your health insurance and ask about
mail order options.