Walmart wants to charge me $650/month for Lialda

I contacted shirecares.com and will be submitting a form

also have found some canadian pharmacies at $290 for 2.5 month supply, anyone have experience ordering from these places?

Shouldn't be if you have the card. CAll the number on the back of the card and get advice from Shire. If necessary, ask one of the pharm tech's to call the number to discuss. It should be $10.

I'm pretty sure that Wal-Mart pharmacies won't submit the paperwork for you. Call Shire to see if they can help you sort it out.

The discount card does not guarantee that you only pay $10 ... it depends on your insurance. With my card, my Lialda was around $350 a month with insurance. That is why I switched back to Sulfasalazine which is only $25 a month ...

Wonder why they aren't covering it at all? You may want to give your insurance a call.

The Costco pharm that I use charges I think $800 for the Lialda, and there is a $50 discount card.

I opted for the Asacol, which is $385. I have insurance but it does not cover brand name drugs, so that's just how much it is. I haven't been able to find any programs for discounts more than $50 or so.

Richard in NY said...

mattcs said...
I contacted shirecares.com and will be submitting a form

also have found some canadian pharmacies at $290 for 2.5 month supply, anyone have experience ordering from these places?

Lots of the Canadian pharmacies are perfectly legitimate. If there are some that you're interested in ordering from check them out on pharmacyreviewer.com.

thanks, think I'll ask my Doc for more samples then order from a Canadian pharmacy, anyone use northwest pharmacy?

Lots of drugs that are brand name only in the US have perfectly good generics available in other countries. Rifaximin is only available in the US as Xifaxan ($13 per pill) but I'm going to order the generic from progressiverx.com for about $1.

Since I have an ID for pharmacyreviewer.com I did the search for you and didn't find anything about Northwest Pharmacy. A better approach may be to start with their list of recommended pharmacies and find one that sells what you need.

I called the pharmacy and they said it was the same active ingredient AND the same coating.

Only thing they said different was color and shape.

the active ingredient is 5asa. the coating is something enteric, that does not dissolve until the colon

this does describe several 5asa drugs. the drugs differ slightly in release mechanism or time delay or pH trigger ... etc.

but Lialda has the mmx (matrix) technology that permits taking pills less often, sometimes just once a day.

no other 5asa pill does that.

if you can't afford the fancy once daily mmx, then get a cheaper 5asa and take them multiple times a day.

CVS says that 90 Lialda for 30 days is about $490, and my copay is $171 (35% for non-preferred brand), and with the $120 discount card, it comes down to $51. So WalMart price is about 4200 high, and you need to try a different pharmacy, like CVS.

I am not sure exactly what the Canadian generic is.

There is a generic Colazal in the States (Balsalazide Disodium). It is taken 3 pills 3x daily, and CVS tells me it is $110 for 270 for 30 days, and my copay would only be $25.

Maybe check out this generic without ordering form Canada.

Post Edited (DBwithUC) : 11/20/2012 7:16:35 PM (GMT-7)

Thanks for the info Richard in NY :)

I would highly recommend shirecares.com for Lialda assistance. The max amount you can make to get assistance is pretty high. I've been taking it for over a year now and there is no way I could afford it. You could also contact you GI, they can talk to the drug rep and get you samples. I did that for a while until I was approved. Now I get a 90 day supply mailed to my home. I just have to follow up a month before to make sure my doctor sent my refill prescription to them. Who knew having UC would be so expensive. Hope you can get something figured out.