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Finally Entyvio approval!

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 7/28/2014 4:20 PM (GMT 0)
My insurance finally agreed to cover entyvio (after initially denying) for 6 months. I am also approved by the Takeda patient assistance program. So looks like my co-pay (all in) is $50/per infusion.

First appt is Thursday at 10:00. I am a pessimist by nature but trying to be hopeful that this will work!
Posted 7/28/2014 4:42 PM (GMT 0)
Good luck pink! Drug seems hopeful.
Posted 7/28/2014 6:25 PM (GMT 0)
Best of luck, we all have our fingers crossed. Our doc isn't concerned that my daughter has had a slow response. Guess it doesn't kick in too fast. Keep us all posted. They are still trying to figure out what complimentary medicines might be needed till the colon starts to heal.
Best to you!
Posted 7/31/2014 5:13 PM (GMT 0)
1st infusion down. I go back in 2 weeks for 2nd dose.
Posted 7/31/2014 5:30 PM (GMT 0)
Awesome! I hope it helps.
Posted 7/31/2014 9:05 PM (GMT 0)
That's awesome!!! Please keep us updated, I'm curious as to how you respond to this drug...my Humira really isn't doing a whole lot for me since I started it in February (getting scoped August 19th so my GI can see if it's at least doing any other healing in there besides the RV fistula which I feel is gone now) so I may need to either get my RX upped to once/week from twice a month or a different med.
Posted 7/31/2014 9:09 PM (GMT 0)
That's great. I hope you see quick improvement! How was the infusion? I've heard it's quick?
Posted 7/31/2014 9:45 PM (GMT 0)
The infusion was super fast. 30 minutes to mix the med (the nurse started my iv while was mixing), 30 minutes to infuse and then I did 30 minutes of saline (just to watch for a reaction). No benadryl as a pre-med.

I was a little dizzy afterwards but she said that is normal.

There were 2 other people getting Entyvio while I was there. It was the 1st infusion for the others as well. I know one has chrons.

The nurse said that they only started giving Entyvio last week so no reports on how people were responding. But she did say this med is slow to work and not to be discouraged if I don't see any improvement before the next infusion (2 weeks from today).

The research nurse came in and said she still has people in the open label drug trial for Entyvio and were continuing to do well on it.

Will keep everyone posted!
Posted 7/31/2014 9:53 PM (GMT 0)
Cool! That sounds easy. I really hope you have long lasting success with it. Did you respond well to remicide or any of the other biologics?
Posted 7/31/2014 10:49 PM (GMT 0)
No luck w/ humira. Remicade worked for about 9 months (I stopped it around 2 years ago). I never developed antibodies it just stopped working.
Posted 8/2/2014 5:02 AM (GMT 0)
Pink, i would be interested if you hear about the need for pre-meds, as you talk with others at the infusion center.

I needed four pre meds for remicade - Benadryl, Tylenol and 2 anti nausea (Zofran & promethazine).... They think it was the saline (odor) that caused nausea.
Posted 8/2/2014 12:34 PM (GMT 0)
I did benadryl and tylenol before remicade doses. You do not do that w/ entyvio. There were no pre-meds.

They do use saline so if you have nausea from the smell I'm guessing you would still need the anti nausea meds??
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