Cost of 6 month Lupron shot?

The main patent on leuprolide acetate expired in 2006..But the clever drug companies changed the time release compounds in the drug and introduced the 6 month shot and managed to get a patent extension claiming this was a new product..A second company did manage to make some kind of back-stage deal and put Eligard on the market which uses the same active ingredient. Eligard and Lupron sell for virtually the same price..

Since the drug is administered by injection in a doctors office, it does not go through a retail pharmacy and it gets billed differently than a drug purchased in a drug store that you administer yourself..The price you quoted, $2225.00 for the 6 month shot is about average. At 67 years, you should have Medicare? I have a UHC managed Medicare Advantage plan that lets me off with the co-pay only, no 27% of the billed amount..Be sure you know what your co-pays will be for the radiation treatments before you start them...

OK great ...thanks for thee explanation...I have the UHC AARP medicare and more advantage plan (PPO-HMO ?one ) ....but not the supplement which would probably cover the 27% they told me I will owe for the tier 5 drug....as far as the radiation treatments , I think I will be billed the total "out of pocket" for the year , in my case $6700- what I`ve spent so far this year on medical....so that plus the Lupron cost and whatever else they come up with , I`m thinking about 10 K or a little less, out of my pocket after all is done by the end of the year .....Let me know if my thinking is wrong.......Last Oct. when they let folks on their plans , change the plan , I stayed with the basic ...thought about the supplement for about $150 more a month . Then a month or so later found out I had cancer ....I expect this Oct. when I can change plans , they will want 5 times that for the supplement.....any thoughts on that ??? Thanks ~ David

I've had all of my PCa intervention (surgery, ADT, ART ) at MD Anderson under Medicare. So far my total out of pocket cost is less than 50 bucks. I think my six month Lupron injection was in the $2-3k range.