HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Delzicol dropped by Express Scripts

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 9/17/2016 3:10 PM (GMT 0)
Just saying ! My new employer uses express scripts.

Any alternatives that people tried which have worked. They offer balsalazide disodium, sulfasalazine, Apriso, Lialda, Pentasa as alternatives.

Thanks friends !
Posted 9/17/2016 3:59 PM (GMT 0)
If those you listed, the closest equivalents to delzicol (in no particular order) are Apriso, Lialda, and Pentasa. Apriso is small pills but more total. Lialda is less pills, but big pills of 1,200 milligram each. A number of folks here use pentasa, I don't know much about it.

Sulfasalazine is a generic, has sulfa as component (avoid if you have a sulfa allergy) and has the highest odds of side effects. Sulfasalazine is also a rheumatoid arthritis medication, good if you also have joint pains as an extra-intestinal complication of uc. It doesn't have a delayed-release chemical coat, rather it's a more complex molecule that breaks down into the active ingredient of mesalamine by gut bacteria.

Balsalazide disodium is generic (colazol is the brand name). It doesn't have a delayed-release chemical coat, rather it's a more complex molecule that breaks down into the active ingredient of mesalamine by gut bacteria.
Posted 9/17/2016 7:10 PM (GMT 0)
This is a concern, as these pharmacies are jacking up prices of specialty drugs and dropping some drugs all together. This is a situation that does not bode well for us expensive specialty drug users. I don't like it, don't like it at all. It doesn't seem to be headed in a direction that makes our drug therapies more accesable and affordable.

I'm on Balsalazide but I'd go for the Lialda. I'm going to switch back before I switch insurances and have to pay a new deductible. Taking 9 pills a day drives me batty and for me, Lialda is the same as Balsalazide. I have to be on a maint drug with my Humira, so may as well be the one that has less pills to take.
Posted 9/19/2016 2:06 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Verucasalt. This is definitely a concern. I have been on Asacol / Delzicol / Mesacol (Indian Generic of Asacol) for over 10 years

My doctor just prescribed Lialda. I hope it works.
Posted 9/19/2016 2:32 PM (GMT 0)
I know express scripts still dispenses lialda and I like it. I hope they don't drop sfRowasa or I am doomed! It is a huge problem how much these drugs cost. My son takes a drug with a $200 copay but the manufacturer has a savings card so it costs us only $20, if they can cover that much for us, maybe they could just lower the prices on the meds instead. Hope you find something that works for you.
Posted 9/19/2016 2:52 PM (GMT 0)
How about asacol HD? Lialda should be fine. It delivers most medication in colon. Pentasa on other hand is more for crohn's patient as it delivers most drug in small bowel.

I have noticed that Delzicol looks different so I am sure drug company must be playing game and that might have prompted insurance to drop it. I even called my pharmacy to make sure.

Hope it works well for you.
Posted 9/20/2016 1:41 AM (GMT 0)
Apriso comes in capsules that are NOT small, but one takes less of them per day than of Delzicol. It also contains aspartame, for the info of patients wishing to avoid sugar or its substitutes in med. Sulfasalazine comes in both uncoated and coated (en-tabs) form. If Expressscripts is dropping coverage of Delzicol, I'm afraid that other 5-ASAs will meet a similar fate. The insurers couldn't care less about IBDers' "heterogeneity of response" to meds!!!!!!! / Old Hat (36 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 9/20/2016 2:20 AM (GMT 0)
Gosh this makes me so angry. I live in fear that my Rowasa (generic) will stop being covered. As it is ...it went to $14 for 3 months to $250. Shameful!! Prices are outrageous!

I will say that if you do Lialda, they do have a savings card that can help so be sure to look it up. The company is Shire. We need all of the help we can get.. Good luck!!
B
Posted 9/20/2016 3:13 AM (GMT 0)
i fear for the biologics, that's where these pharms are looking to cut costs, because they are so expensive. It doesn't help that big drug companies like Abbvie, in order to keep Humira relevant and raking in billions, are doing their best to circumvent competition with biosimilars. And even if biosimilars are available, the savings won't exactly be passed on to the patients, they will still be expensive. And yes, the 5ASA's, nobody cares if one is better than the other for a patient, it will be what's cheapest or if your doc can swing it for you.

It's ridiculous, having to float all these savings cards and such, it's just laundering the money from one place to another. Of course, without rebates and savings cards, who could afford these drugs? It shouldn't have to be this way. 😡

Good RX is pretty good about updates to which pharms are dropping which drugs.
Posted 9/20/2016 5:05 PM (GMT 0)
If you have an prescription drug card, you can apply to get your Delzicol for only $30 per month - worked for me - http://www.delzicol.com/resources/savings-card/
Posted 9/20/2016 5:07 PM (GMT 0)
Express scripts doesn't have Asacol HD on their formulary, but my doc was able to successfully appeal the denial since I have tried a bunch of different brands and have the most success with Asacol.

Worth a try if your doc will do it
Posted 9/26/2016 11:47 AM (GMT 0)
The US healthcare system is a sham and is broken - the health of the patient is not #1 priority of insurance nor phamecuetical companies - expense reduction and profits are what drives these companies. Why our health is an insurable event seems contradictory to me but this is what we're left to deal with.
I'm a 23 year successfully treated patient of asacol -> asacol HD -> Delizicol ... all name brand high costing mesasalmine ... No longer a formulary drug (undoubtedly for the enormous overcharged cost) on individual insurance plans. Do I switch to other less costly ones (potentially causing flares) to appease the insurance company (not my health)? This dilemma infuriates me ... the drug is obviously overpriced (why can other drug companies make similar mesasalamines at lower prices?!) but effective more than others for treating flares & remaining in remission.
One other word of caution when receiving your Rx from pharmacies (especially mail Rx) - count your pills upon arrival ... I was, more often than not, short changed by a pill or more. Not a big deal but imagine the profit the pharmacy has if it does that for every prescription!
Posted 9/26/2016 8:27 PM (GMT 0)
There's something just fundamentally wrong with an insurance company deciding what treatment we need or can have. Very few of their employees are M.D.'s and they usually aren't the ones making the decision. That person is more likely to be an accountant.
Posted 9/27/2016 7:15 PM (GMT 0)
Exactly jujub
insurance companies are in business to make profits (enormous profits) and they do so by mitigating risks. And those risks are their claims ... of course they'll look for the cheapest ways to treat patients not look out for their welfare. This is why our health care should NOT be insurable.
Posted 2/12/2017 8:19 PM (GMT 0)

GettingBetterSoon said...
If you have an prescription drug card, you can apply to get your Delzicol for only $30 per month - worked for me - http://www.delzicol.com/resources/savings-card/

GettingBetterSoon, thank you for posting this! My boyfriend was just prescribed this and we were shocked at the expense. This is a huge help! I just went online and downloaded the savings card! THANK YOU!!!
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply