Posted 5/14/2013 8:41 PM (GMT 0)
At this moment I am both furious and feel HAD! My husband has stage IV prostate cancer with mets to lungs and chest lymphs. His oncologist recommended he do Provenge which is a supposed immunotherapy that super charges the T cells and immune system. There is no way to verify this except when a future treatment works for longer than projected or the patient is alive longer than projected then Provenge says it must be because of the boosted immune system. BS. We were told by the doctors office who was told by the patient assistance program set up by DENDREON that all out of pocket charges up to 6,000$ would be paid for by them. We have been gathering and submitting explanation of benefits ( EOB) to the oncologists office and their billing and program assistance person has been submitting them to Dendreon's program. Today the bills for the port placement which include scans, labs, outpatient surgery, anesthesia, X-rays, an anesthesiologist, surgeon, radiologist and host of others ARE NOT GOING TO BE COVERED, after we faxed them, made countless phone calls, kept meticulous records of them and they will not be included. WHY? Well. It seems that Dendreon says that they give assistance ONLY FOR LEUKOPARESIS AND INFUSIONS AND CHARGES RELATED TO THOSE. I am furious. I phoned the representative and she informed me that Dendreon does not consider a port or vascular access catheter necessary for the leukoparesis or infusion of Provenge. I told her that was the most ridiculous thing I ever heard and the old method of sticking in and out IVs in both arms for 3 to 4 hours at a time and hoping they remain patent and viable is archaic at best. She informed me they will not pay anything towards the port placement because it isn't necessary. I informed her that since my husbands PSA went from 42 to 143 after Provenge and his chest mets have all increased in size that obviously Provenge doesn't work and for $146,000.00 for all three treatments men should be getting something in return. I am sharing this because I am furious, frustrated and I am wanting others to know that unless you have the money to pay for all the things associated with Provenge treatment, it is a waste of time, money and hope. Not to mention that they advertise that Provenge supercharges white blood cells. Well, white blood cells only live a maximum of 30 days in the body so it seems pretty useless. My husband is now going to start Zytiga which would cost us $8,000.00 out of pocket PER month if we had not already hit the max out of pocket for this year. I have a big mouth and lots of places I run it (this being one) and I assured Kathryn from Dendreon Patient assistance I would be sharing their story of greed and lack of real assistance for patients. They are despicable for not really assisting.