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Erleada cost

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Posted 5/31/2023 3:28 PM (GMT 0)
Hi,
I have Medicare part D supplement plan. I also have private insurance ( blue cross) through my wife’s employer.
The cost is extremely high. Would anyone please like to share how much they pay for the drug Erleada ( apultamide).

Thank you
Posted 6/3/2023 2:38 AM (GMT 0)
No direct experience. It is one of those expensive proprietary drugs with no alternates.

Part D has various levels eventually only costing 5% of the drug price. This ends up being more like $11-$12K per year which is still a lot.

Best thing to do is look at the manufacturer’s website and see what help they can provide or recommend. They have a lot more latitude with private plans than government plans but you have to check all possibilities. My wife gets a $12K/month drug free from Pfizer and has to reapply every year, 3 years so far.
Posted 6/3/2023 1:23 PM (GMT 0)
You need to research grants (provided your income is not too high). Or the drug manufacturerer directly. Good luck.
Posted 6/3/2023 2:37 PM (GMT 0)
If your doctor's agree, you might switch to Abiraterone Acitate (generic for Zytiga). Your insurance plan will probably still hit you for $10k or more per year, but you can buy it directly as a generic from some of the large online pharmacies without using your insurance. Look up Abiraterone Acitate at some of the pharmacies listed in this Consumer Reports article. When I checked it 6 or 8 months ago, it was available for $2k or less per year if bought directly without using your insurance.

I've been on Abiraterone, along with my quarterly Lupron shots and have remained undetectable for the past 18 months. I get my prescription from the VA, but If I weren't eligible there, I'd look into buying directly from one of these pharmacies rather than using my BC/BS Medicare Advantage plan with it's extremely high copay.
https://www.consumerreports.org/online-pharmacies/online-pharmacies-can-help-you-save-big-on-prescription-drugs/
Posted 6/3/2023 2:43 PM (GMT 0)
Since your PSA has returned only after your last Firmagon injection some months ago, have you been told you need to go on anything other than just returning to Firmagon? That seems to me to be the most likely first course of action. Unless your docs say otherwise, just returning to Firmagon, Lupron or other standard ADT should return your PSA to undetectable. If it doesn't you would then need to start a secondary treatment with one of these newer, expensive drugs. You are at a point where ADT can control but not cure your PCa. So any treatment with
Firmagon will only suppress PSA for a while. Then when PSA returns you can do another round of ADT and so on.

After failed RP and SRT, Firmagon and later Lupron kept my PSA undetectable for several years. When PSA returned despite Lupron my MO started me on Abiraterone Acitate, which has reduced my PSA and T to undetectable since. The Abirateron also requires a small 5mg dose of prednisone also. The Abiraterone suppresses natural production of cortisol. The small daily dose of pred compensates for the missing cortisol.
Jim

Post Edited (Bohemond) : 6/3/2023 6:55:47 AM (GMT-8)

Posted 6/3/2023 2:55 PM (GMT 0)
I had to switch to Erleada because of my liver couldn’t handle abiraterone. My employer had a service that requested Erleada for assistance for my co-pay and the Erleada drug company grant wavier of the co-pay . The wavier was good for as long as I continesly used the drug, fortunately dr Sartor took me off of adt last year

Try to reach out to the drug manufacturer for help,
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